SGD Season 3
by Chris7221
Summary: The Ori are on our doorstep. The crusade has begun. Earth and her enemies turned allies face a desperate war against an unstoppable foe. Losing is not an option, even if it seems like the only one. A direct continuation of SGD Season 2. Rating upped to M for violence and language. CANCELLED, sort of, but now COMPLETED.
1. We Face Our Enemy Together (Part 1)

It's a bit late and there isn't as much as I wanted, but SGD Season 3 is finally released. There's a trailer if you can find it on YouTube. Not much to say, if you've read the previous fics you know what to expect- the big shift for Season 3 is to go to a broader perspective and depict a larger war. If you're new to SGD, you should probably start with Director's Cut- even if you aren't, if you haven't read it, do so. While I'm shamelessly plugging my stories, I might as well tell you to read A Balanced Power (a mostly conventional Stargate fic) and A Changing Reality (Mass Effect pseudo-self-insert, sort of) as well as GateWar Redux.

No Snapshots for Season 3, so let's begin.

**SGD 3x01 We Face Our Enemy Together (Part 1)**

Previously on SGD

Sallis: The Ori are all powerful. They guide us on the path to enlightenment, and bless us all. We learn from their teachings, in the book of Origin. They are everywhere, but it is said that their home is in the great city of Celestis.

Doci: What is a god but a being that is worshipped by those beneath?

Daniel: Turns out our ascended Ancients and the Ori had a slight difference of opinion. See, the Ori seem to think because they're ascended, humans should worship them. All humans.

Teyla: During a Wraith attack, a strange visitor came through the ring, and behind him came a stream of fire that plucked their ships from the sky. He told them only that it was the 'will of the Ori'.

Carter: With the defeat of Ba'al, there's a lot of people looking for something else. The galaxy is a mess, with crime syndicates, minor goa'uld, and cults popping up all over the place to claim their piece of the galaxy.

Wraith: The Ori have been preventing us from culling worlds for some time. But recently, they have begun to attack us directly, with ships. They are small but powerful- we have lost three cruisers and a hive-ship in the last week. A coordinated attack would be mutually beneficial to us both.

Weir: All units, this is General Weir. The _Daedalus_ and _Orion_ are pulling out. We cannot continue this battle any longer. To the allied Wraith- if you choose to stay, it's your choice, but we cannot offer any further assistance.

Hammond: It has become clear, even obvious, that we cannot face this enemy on our own. No one power in this galaxy can, although it is debatable that the Wraith in Pegasus could. If we stand together, the game changes. We need to start forging alliances to unite as one force against the Ori.

Daniel: I think it would be worth it if we- SG1- looked for Merlin's weapon. It won't take us long, and it could give us the advantage we need. It'll be a lot easier convincing their followers their gods are false if they don't exist anymore.

O'Neill: About two hours ago, a Free Jaffa ship found this in orbit of a planet we call P3Y-229. It's a giant stargate, a 'supergate' if you will. Half an hour ago we got word from the Travelers. There's another one in Pegasus, near a world we call M2N-571. If they're going to invade, they're going to invade both galaxies at once, and they're going to do it soon. Let's cut the bullshit, people. Either you're in and you show up in front of a supergate with your fleet, or you're out.

Daniel: Well, we didn't quite find what we were looking for. We've got some new leads- three worlds known as Castiana, Sahal, and Vegonbrei. I don't know what or where they are, but the answer is probably in Merlin's library, and our teams our studying it right now.

O'Neill: Daniel, there are hundreds of books in that library. Even if we poured all our resources into that library, it would take days to sift through. No guarantee we can find anything, either, and even if we can there's no guarantee the destination won't just send us on another wild goose chase.

Carter: Even without Merlin's weapon, we should still try. If we dial out, the Ori can't dial in. At this point, it's our best bet for holding off an invasion. Since the gate is powered by a black hole, we can maintain the connection indefinitely. If it works, we get a high-speed corridor to the Pegasus Galaxy out of this.

Carter: I've lost magnetic lock! Something's happening!

O'Neill: Get her out of there, now!

Emerson: Sir, the supergate is activating. We're about to be attacked.

O'Neill: Bring the fleet to battle stations. Open a channel.

Weir: Never before have so many come together from all corners of the galaxy. Never before has a fleet so diverse been assembled. If there is one good thing that can come out of this, it is realizing that we are not so different after all. We have common goals, common fears, common enemies.

O'Neill: Nobody's fought an enemy like the Ori before. We don't know much about them, and what we do scares the living crap out of us. They're powerful, hell, maybe even more powerful than the Ancients. They're advanced and they really, really want us either gone or their slaves.

Weir: There's never been so much at stake. The oppression of the goa'uld, the Wraith cullings, they're nothing compared to what the Ori will do. They will not stop until every man, woman, and child is either dead or bows before their tyrannical rule, their dogmatic religion. But we will not die. We will not bow. We will not be enslaved or eradicated!

O'Neill: The battle today will make galactic history. Our actions today will define our lives. Win or lose, stay or run, we're gonna be remembered for it. This is a new era, and it's up to us to decide what kind of an era it's going to be.

Weir: We're not just fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for the future, for our children and our children's children. A lot has changed in the past few years. Whether we enter a new period of prosperity and cooperation or destruction and despair depends on the next few hours, maybe even the next few minutes.

O'Neill: It all comes down to this moment. As one galaxy, we will stand up and we will say, we will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We will fight and we will win!

Weir: We're in this together. Stand united. Stand fast.

**January 1, 2006  
P3Y-229**

Floating above the surface of the supergate, Colonel Samantha Carter had an excellent view of the majestic battleship as it emerged. The slightly curved, flat face of the ship came first, revealing the starship's powerful main weapon. It tapered back to a pair of 'arms' flanking a hollow teardrop in the middle of the ship, glowing with a sphere of energy. At the very aft end was a pair of sublight engines where the sides came together. The entire hull was a grey colour, arrayed with windows that appeared tiny when the entire ship was viewed.

Opposing them was the might of the galaxy, the combined fleets of the Tau'ri, the Free Jaffa, the Jade Empire, the minor goa'uld, Hebridan, Aschen, and Asgard. They were all arranged in a loose formation, with the heavy hitters nearly perpendicular to the supergate, fast movers ahead of the gate with another line of powerful, but slower starships behind and carriers behind them at a distance. Before the Ori battleship had even fully emerged, the allied fleet opened fire.

The combined fire of over two dozen ships, a massive torrent of tungsten slugs, nuclear missiles, ion bolts and plasma streams hammered the invader. Its massively powerful shields shimmered under the bombardment, and it quickly accelerated away from the event horizon to make room for its companions. At the same time, it started disgorging fighters and powered its main weapon.

An intense yellow-white beam of energy streamed from the projector on the front of the warship's hull. It streaked across the stellar battlefield and impacted a Ha'tak belonging to Amaterasu. The powerful beam ripped through its shields in microseconds, cutting clean through the hull. Even if there were no secondary explosions, the colossal amount of energy would have rendered the once proud mothership an unrecognizable cloud of space junk. The naquadah power plant detonated, completely obliterating the starship. The energy beam continued to graze an Asgard drone ship, severely depleting its shields before dissipating.

She was helpless to do anything but watch.

**AES _Enterprise_**

"Three more Ori battleships just exited the supergate," the sensor officer reported. "In addition to eleven... no, twelve Ori frigates. They are opening fire."

General Jack O'Neill surveyed the battle, conveniently displayed on the holographic tactical readout. Over a thousand Asgard drone fighters, F-1As, F-2s, and Death Gliders lined up to engage nimble Ori fighter craft still launching from their motherships. The Aschen Warpstars were hammering their massive opponents to little effect, but the Earth battlecruisers seemed to be at least doing something, as did the Asgard ships. The Ha'tak and Hebridanian ships were hammering their opponents, but only slightly depleting the powerful shields of the motherships. It was chaos, chaos he had to control.

"Aschen Warpstars, shift fire to the frigates," he ordered through the comm link. "Strike fighters begin attack runs on capital warships, superiority fighters counter enemy action."

"Sir, I suggest we concentrate fire on one battleship at a time," Colonel Emerson said from his command chair in front of him. "That way their shields won't have a chance to recharge."

"Make it so. Fighters and attack ships continue firing at will, all bombardment ships shift fire to target designate Bravo One."

**Aschen Warpstar 006**

Commander Mirris scowled at the new orders. "Shift fire to the smaller ships. Continue long-range bombardment."

"Commander, I must protest-"

The Commander cut off her subordinate. "Your objection is noted and recorded. Shift fire to the smaller ships."

"Yes, Commander." With a few taps on his square, grey console, the officer had changed the targets locked into the firing computer.

On the outside of the hull were several energy cannons, all pointed forward. Though accurate, fast-firing and high velocity, the weapons were not very powerful. The shots fizzled against the shields of the Ori motherships, finding only slightly more success against the frigates. Even still, they showed no hope of penetrating them. The Aschen had vastly overstated their capabilities, although it was not intentional. The Warpstar's weapons were designed to sterilize planets from beyond the range of orbital defences, not for ship-to-ship combat.

The Warpstar continued to hold position beside its sister at long range, relatively safe from enemy fire. If fighters or missiles tried to approach, they would be swatted down by a highly effective laser point-defence array. A few stray shots from the frigates and battleships' secondary weapons impacted the Warpstars' weak shields, already beginning to deplete them.

**F-302B _Vanderburg_**

"Red flight, on me. We're going to ram these nukes right down their throats." Lieutenant Colonel Cameron "Shaft" Mitchell jerked right on the slip-stick, pushing his craft in the same direction. An energy bolt flew where he had been only seconds earlier. The amount of weapons fire in both directions made manoeuvring extremely dangerous. To his left, a powerful energy beam from one of the Ori battleships tore through a Death Glider and continued to core the Ha'tak behind it. It was a horrible place to fly in.

"Ori fighters are closing to intercept," Major Irena Volkova informed him. As CSO, it was her job to operate the fighter's electronic systems, as well as monitor sensor readouts and the active datalink from shipboard sensors.

"Copy that. Red flight, launch Slams on three." One of the weapons that the Tau'ri had access to was the Star Streak /F-LM, a long-range missile nicknamed the "Slam". Mitchell's F-302B carried four of them, in addition to four heavy anti-ship missiles and four smaller dogfighting missiles. If all else failed, he had an automatic railgun. With the controls on his sticks, he selected the missiles and armed them. "Three, two, one, FIRE! Red Leader, fox two!"

They were not the first group to fire missiles, and thousands of the lethal projectiles flew toward the massive formations of Ori fighters. Some of them manoeuvred to try to escape, but none of the fighters had countermeasures and hundreds were blotted out by the missiles. More were cut down by point-defence fire from the smaller ships in the allied fleet- a few were even hit by the ships. The weak shields of the Ori fighters ultimately did them no good against the sheer volume of fire.

"We've made a hole, let's move on through and get 'em! Red flight on me!" As the flights of more nimble F-306s engaged the Ori fighters, the F-302s sped through holes in their formation.

"Tally ho!" a British accented voice shouted over the radio.

"Bloody right mate!" That accent was different- maybe Australian or New Zealand. Nobody had time to think about it.

"They are targeting us," Volkova informed him, checking her display. They were in the thick of the Ori fleet now, and both the motherships and the smaller escorts were blasting away at them with their secondary weapons. They weren't true point-defence cannons, however, and couldn't track the fast-moving fighters. A few hits were still a few too many.

"Anti-ship missiles, prepare to fire!" Mitchell shouted. He gunned the engines of his fighter, pushing the fusion drives to their limit and bringing his fighter around in a smooth curve. His flight followed, knowing right away what he planned to do.

"Fire!" Mitchell lined up his crosshairs with what appeared to be the engines of the Ori mothership and pulled the trigger, firing all four missiles in quick succession. "Red Leader, fox four! Break, break, break!"

**AES _Enterprise_**

"Damn it!" O'Neill raged, watching the readout display. The clouds of fighters had been thinned out on both sides, and the strike had ultimately done them little good. The massive amount of nuclear ordinance had damaged the shields of the Ori battleships, but they were still holding strong under the bombardment.

"This is the Hebridanian carrier _Dominance_," a fuzzy voice blared on the comm circuit. O'Neill focused on it above all the rest of the combat chatter. "Taking heavy damage, requesting permission to retreat, requesting permission to-"

Suddenly, the transmission cut out and the boxy symbol representing the ship disappeared from the tactical map. The pride of Hebridan's fleet had taken a direct hit from an Ori energy beam. It had blasted right through the ship's weakened shields, torn a gaping hole through the hull, destroyed half the ship's internals and exited out the back. She floated briefly in space, a few lights flickering, before being consumed by secondary explosions and breaking apart.

"Give me a status report, Major!"

"Sir, multiple units report taking heavy damage, five Ha'tak destroyed, three Hebridanian ships destroyed or disabled, four drone ships destroyed, the AES _Korolev_ reports dead in water."

"Damn it!" the General swore again. "All units are to continue firing. We're going to give the Ori everything we've got."

**TCCF **_**Milius**_

"The _Dominance_ just dropped off!" the co-pilot informed his captain. "Damn it, we're not supposed to be fighting."

"Nobody's supposed to be fighting," the captain of the ship, La'el Montrose, coolly informed him. "We didn't even have warships until six months ago."

Deftly, she pushed the control stick to the left, arcing the small cruiser toward an Ori frigate. Tech Con had managed to produce the cruisers in record time. About two hundred metres long, they were small ships, built fast, light, and manoeuvrable. They were equipped with the latest technology- this meant relatively slow hyperdrives, naquadah power plants, high power pulse lasers and nuclear missiles. As she piloted the craft, La'el ordered through the comm system, "Hotel Foxtrot Whisky Three, form up on my wing and coordinate fire." Under other circumstances, she might have laughed at the strange designation.

The Ori frigate was currently occupied with a Ha'tak, but some of its energy weapons retrained and opened fire on the Hebridanian starship. Several of the energy bolts hit, slamming into the shields. "Minor damage to lower decks, pulse laser two disabled. Shield power at thirty-five percent."

"Fire pulse lasers, standby on missiles!" The Hebridanian starship used infrared lasers, and the beams were only visible when they impacted space dust and debris as they closed on the enemy ship at the speed of light. Its shields flared brightly as they absorbed the energy. The _Milius_ continued to close with its fighter wing in tow, using its superior speed to stay behind the Ori ship. "Missiles away!"

At the same time as the larger cruiser, the Hebridanian fighters launched their missiles. They were almost on top of the Ori frigate, and there was no chance to intercept. The already weakened shields shuddered and collapsed under the onslaught, leaving the frigate an open target for other ships. However, it would be the fighter squadron's last action. A group of Ori fighters engaged and obliterated half of them on the first attack.

As she watched the death unfold around her, La'el ordered, "Switch lasers into anti-fighter mode. Let's thin them out a little."

_**Samantha Carter**_

In the command hall of the _Samantha Carter_ sat three Asgard, each in their own control throne. Thor was in overall command of the fleet, coordinating with Penegal aboard the Mjolnir as well as his own crew. Aegir was in control of the _Samantha Carter_. Although Thor respected the commander, he wished that it was himself in control. Beside them was Kvasir, who was coordinating the largely automated drone ships.

The tactical situation was displayed on a holographic display not unlike that aboard the Enterprise, although it was in front of them rather than behind and the Asgard actually did it first. As Thor watched, another pair of symbols turned grey and faded out. One of the Ori motherships had just destroyed a Tau'ri Prometheus and a Free Jaffa Nation Ha'tak with one shot. So far, they had traded a dozen ships and hundreds of fighters for four Ori frigates. It was time to bring out the big guns- literally.

The Samantha Carter class starships were primarily carriers, designed to transport, service, and control small Asgard drone fighters as well as the Jonas Quinn class drone ships. However, the majestic starships were also heavily armed. Rapid-firing energy pulse weapons were mounted on the top and bottom surfaces of the hull, as well as on the vertical "towers" on the ends of the "wings". Above and below the hangar bays mounted on the side of the hull, newly-developed energy beam weapons were mounted for attacking smaller ships. For larger ships, however, there was a pair of massive beam weapons mounted in the head of the ship. Incredibly powerful, it was estimated by Asgard scientists they would vaporize Replicator ships, obliterate Ha'tak, and gut hive-ships in one or two shots. Their effectiveness against the Ori behemoths was about to be tested.

"O'Neill, we are moving into position to directly attack the enemy," Thor informed the fleet commander over the comm link. He turned to Aegir. "Take us into optimal weapons range and power the primary weapon system."

"Are you sure that is wise?" Penegal asked from the other ship.

"No. However, I believe in this case it would be best to learn from the humans' aggressive example."

"Very well. Moving the _Mjolnir_ into weapons range."

Together, the two massive warships advanced toward the battle, leaving the Enterprise behind. The movement did not go unnoticed by the Ori fleet. Recognizing the threat the large carriers posed, two of the battleships turned and fired. An orange-white beam of death lanced toward each of the Asgard ships and slammed into their shields.

The _Samantha Carter_ shuddered under the stress, but her shields held. Aegir reported, "Shields holding at sixty-five percent. Minor kinetic damage in forward sections."

"A drone ship has been destroyed," Kvasir reported coldly.

"We are within optimal range for the primary weapon. Firing." On Aegir's command, a burst of energy surged through conduits into a fixed pair of beam emitters mounted on the extreme bow of the ship. A few minor corrections could be made with deflection coils, but otherwise the entire ship would have to be turned to train the weapons. The power from the ship's octet of reactors was converted into extremely energetic plasma and expelled at a fraction of the speed of light.

Two beams hit a warship each. The _Mjolnir_'s weapons halved the shields of its target. The _Samantha Carter_'s attack was even more successful. In a brilliant blue flash, the twin beams obliterated the already-weakened shields of the lead Ori battleship. Although the ship was still intact, it was now vulnerable. Desperately, the Ori fleet manoeuvred to put other ships between the stricken battleship and its attackers. It would do little good. Explosions pockmarked the hull of the starship as metal slugs, energy bolts, and missiles hammered away.

**AES _Trafalgar_**

"Its shields are down! Now's our chance!"

"You hear that?" the commander of the _Trafalgar_, Colonel James Bainbridge, asked rhetorically. He ordered, "Helm, sideslip manoeuvre, bring our main gun in line with that ship, smartly. Prepare to fire."

The main engines of the _Trafalgar_ fired, accelerating the ship forward while manoeuvring thrusters pushed it sideways and pivoted it to align the mass driver running down the centre of the ship with the Ori battleship. Around them, the rest of the two fleets continued to do battle.

"Shields at forty percent!" The Trafalgar shuddered as weapons fire from the Ori fleet hammered away at them. "If that thing fires-"

"I know..." Bainbridge replied quietly, silently counting as the Ori ship turned toward them. "Fire main gun! All batteries open fire!"

The secondary battery of the Earth battlecruiser was the first to open up, the gun mounts rotating away from their previous targets and all lining up to fire on various points on the battleship's hull. The Trafalgar had been upgraded with twin turrets for eight heavy railguns in total. It was a lot of fire, but not much firepower. The main gun, however, was another story. The massive tungsten slug punched a hole straight through the hull armour of the Ori battleship, turning itself and a good portion of the hull into a jet of superheated metal. The amorphous mass exited through the other side of the hull after tearing through a hundred metres of ship.

**FJS _Republic_**

As the _Trafalgar_ mercilessly hammered the stricken battleship, an escort broke away from one of the others to engage. In doing so, it flew right past the _Republic_, flagship of the Free Jaffa fleet.

"Pursue that vessel," Teal'c of Chulak ordered, monitoring the tactical display. Once again, he found himself longing for the advanced command and control capabilities of the Earth starships. The Pel'tac had only a few control stations and no large tactical readouts. It was highly automated and thought controlled, but there was only so much each of them could do.

"Pursuing," the helmsman acknowledged. The Ha'tak rotated and accelerated, following the Ori frigate toward its target. The _Republic_ was one of the latest upgraded Ha'tak, with more powerful weapons and better shields courtesy of the Asgard and the Tau'ri. It was those shields that had allowed them to survive the battle so far, though constant bombardment and a glancing hit from an Ori energy beam had severely taxed them.

The ship shuddered violently as the Ori frigate opened fire defensively. Sparks flew from exposed wiring on the rear of the compartment and it caught fire. One of the Jaffa rushed to extinguish it, and the helmsman reported, "Shields at twenty percent!"

"Fire!" Teal'c ordered. It was unnecessary. The Jaffa controlling the weapons had already given the mental command, and the array of energy cannons opened up, blasting away what was left of the frigate's shields and blasting through the thin armour below. Within seconds, the Ori frigate was reduced to floating scrap.

It would not be the frigate that killed the _Trafalgar_, however. Even as the second round from the battlecruiser's mass driver ripped into the Ori battleship and its lights flickered and died, it managed to fire its main weapon one last time. A white-hot beam of energy lanced through the _Trafalgar_, taking down what was left of its shields and lancing through the ship compartment by compartment, clean down the centre. Secondary explosions ripped through the battlecruiser, in seconds reducing it to nothing but wreckage as its opponent began to break apart.

**AES _Enterprise_**

"Sir, we just lost the _Trafalgar_!"

"Damn it!" Colonel Emerson swore.

"Well it's not all bad. We took down one of their motherships," Colonel Carter replied encouragingly.

"There's still three left." As O'Neill said that, another one of their ships disappeared from the tactical screen. He asked, "Which one was that?"

"That was the carrier Mjolnir," Thor's calm voice informed them. "We were able to beam Penegal out in time."

O'Neill was still trying to process that when the Enterprise suddenly rocked violently, almost throwing him off his feet. "The hell was that?"

"They've targeted us, sir!"

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Colonel Emerson ordered. "All ahead flank. Return fire with everything we've got. We're not just mopping up fighters anymore."

"We're not going to be able to do anything at this range," the XO told him. "We're just wasting ordinance."

"Hey, we're getting our asses kicked, it's time to go all in!"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with your XO," O'Neill told them. "Take us in. All units, focus fire on target designate Bravo Three."

**Goa'uld Ha'tak**

"Bravo three?" Amaterasu's First Prime asked, confused.

She made a mental note to get a new First Prime before explaining, "The third one, you fool, with its shields nearly down."

"Yes, milady." The Ha'tak spun on its axis and changed directions, using its omni-directional reactionless drive to outmanoeuvre the Ori frigate that had been chasing it. The frigate overshot the turn and ran straight in front of the battered Odyssey, which immediately engaged it. The Ha'tak continued onward toward the battleship.

"Mike Golf Ha'tak three and four, join attack formation," Amaterasu ordered, cringing at the Tau'ri name. The way she understood it, the designation was based on a common name and a sport involving smacking a ball back and forth- she didn't understand it. But what was to be expected from the Tau'ri?

Two other Ha'tak also belonging to the minor Goa'uld joined with Amaterasu's mothership. They continued toward the Ori mothership together, opening fire with a fierce barrage from all their cannons. It shimmered against their shields, draining them detectably, but appeared to do no damage.

During the attack run, Amaterasu noticed something strange. There were fighters swarming the Ori battleships, and they appeared to be decreasing in number. They were returning to their motherships.

**AES _Enterprise_**

"Uh, command, I guess you didn't get this," Colonel Mitchell cut in, switching communications channels. "But the Ori fighters are recovering, repeat, Ori fighters are landing aboard the battleships."

"They're retreating," General O'Neill surmised. He keyed the comm again. "All units, give 'em everything you've got! Don't let those sons of bitches leave!"

As the allied fleet pulled together and unleashed one last barrage of fire, the Ori fleet assembled into a formation again, a move that cost them a frigate. The ships rapidly accelerated, causing what would have been a deadly attack from the Asgard carrier to become a grazing hit that severely depleted a battleship's shields. Weapons fire rained down on the Ori fleet, but they ceased returning it, instead continuing to accelerate. One Free Jaffa Ha'tak valiantly attempted to prevent them from escaping and was obliterated when an Ori battleship, with its powerful shields, simply rammed it. A hyperspace window opened in front of the fleet, and they were gone.

The silence was deafening. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a quiet voice said, "I think we won, sir."

Brigadier General Jack O'Neill surveyed the battlefield. They left a huge field of wreckage behind. Some of the wreckage was identifiable, some of it was pounded into fine space dust. Some of it wasn't wreckage at all, but the battered remains of the united fleet attempting to pull themselves back into a retreat formation. There wasn't a lot left.

He turned back toward the tactical map. Though it didn't have the emotional impact of a field of space junk, the coldly pragmatic portion of his brain registered that it was much more useful. The Asgard _Mjolnir_ was gone, as were the _Korolev_, _Trafalgar_, and the Chinese Prometheus labelled F01. The _Unity_ and _Odyssey_ reported heavy damage. Outside their own fleet, one Aschen Warpstar was destroyed, the other reported critical damage. The Hebridanian fleet had lost its carrier, most of its fighters, and half of their cruisers. There weren't a lot of Ha'tak left- not of the minor Goa'uld, Free Jaffa, or Jade Empire. Maybe a third of the initial force remained, most belonging to the Free Jaffa Nation.

The General allowed himself a thin smile. They had given the Ori a run for their money, after all, and that was more than they expected to be able to do. "Yeah. I guess we did."

The communications officer interrupted his thoughts. "Sir, we're receiving messages from the rest of the fleet. They want to know why we lost."


	2. We Face Our Enemy Together (Part 2)

I apologize for the extreme brevity of this chapter. It was supposed to be longer, but I couldn't really find a way to stretch it out. The next chapter, tentatively titled Bury Your Dead (Part 3) will be longer.

******SGD 3x02 We Face Our Enemy Together (Part 2)  
**

**January 1, 2006  
M2N-571**

**AES _Dreadnought_**

"General, they're coming through! Two frigates, one battleship."

Brigadier General Elizabeth Weir nodded. The war was about to begin. Whether they won or lost could determine the fate of the galaxy. Humans and Wraith working together... it was unheard of. Forcing back a wave of anxiety, she keyed the communications system. "This is it, everyone. Give them no quarter. All units, commence firing."

The massive starship shuddered beneath them as a large tungsten slug was propelled down the length of the ship and expelled from its bow. It joined with what seemed to be a solid wall of fire from the Wraith hive-ships, cruisers, Traveler generational ships, Asgard drone ships and the rest of the AESF task force. The Ori battleship shuddered under the sheer volume of fire, and the frigates were pounded to dust in seconds. It quickly accelerated to make way for the rest of the fleet.

Missile tubes empty, capacitors drained, guns cycling, the volume of fire dropped as the rest of the Ori force arrived. They lined up, five battleships side by side, with the frigates interspersed in between. Coming under bombardment, they returned fire. A pair of Wraith cruisers disintegrated when an Ori beam weapon swept across their hulls.

"How many?" Weir asked. The _Dreadnought_ rocked slightly as the fast-firing secondary weapons of the Ori ships began impacting its shields.

"Six motherships, fifteen escorts!"

She keyed the comm again. "All fighters begin attack runs. Suppress enemy fighters and strike capital ships."

**Wraith Hive-ship**

"The human commander wishes for us to divert our fighters," a tall, lithe Wraith said. The bridge was like the rest of the ship, organic both literally and figuratively. The ship was alive- not in an intelligent sense but alive in that it was made up of living cells. Because of this, it had a distinct appearance, one instantly unsettling to humans.

The commander, a slightly stockier but equally pale figure, nodded. He ordered grimly, "Do as she says."

There was already a solid cloud composed of thousands of Wraith darts outside the hive-ships. Thousands more spewed forth from their motherships, joining a rapidly advancing wave. The small darts accelerated toward the Ori force, energy bolts coming along behind them and some even hitting in an act of careless and wasteful friendly fire.

The Ori fleet opened fire, their own fighters and secondary weapons shredding the oncoming mass. However, the drones piloting the darts had no concept of self-preservation. Though thousands fell, thousands more continued onward. The massive wave turned into an amorphous mass as the two sides fought for control.

**F-306 "Sonic"**

"Take that, you sons of bitches!" Captain Jane "Reaper" Moreau shouted as she triggered off a pair of missiles, destroying an Ori fighter before flying straight through its field of wreckage.

"Do you say that after every damn kill?" her wingman asked, forming up beside her. Their view of the battle was far different than that of the hive-ships. They were "below" the Ori fleet, flying "upside-down". In truth, there was no up or down in space, but that was the way their velocimeters were calibrated. All they could see were several massive starships and a furball of fighter combat above them.

"Maybe fighters will win this one," the voice of the CAG announced over the radio. "The darts have got the Ori fighters pretty well taken care of. Begin attack runs on the escorts."

"Roger that. Foxtrot, form up. Switch to nukes." She brought her fighter back into formation, behind the leader, and dutifully armed the pair of large nuclear missiles beneath the stubby wings of her 306. In sequence, each fighter swivelled up, right, and around toward one of the escort frigates and gunned the engines. They were getting better at zero-gee, Newtonian flight manoeuvres.

Though the frigate was small compared to what it was escorting, it still appeared massive. Large surface facets disgorged balls of energy at them as they approached. Reaper watched in horror as her section leader exploded on impact.

There would be time to grieve later. She accelerated and keyed the communications system. "This is Reaper, taking command of Foxtrot. Form up on me."

She gently corrected to bring her fighter in line to fire on the accelerating frigate. That was no easy task, especially when trying to avoid the balls of death. Two more fighters exploded before they got within what she judged to be appropriate firing distance. Although the missiles had theoretically infinite range, and were guided, a close shot made interception far less likely. In rapid succession, she triggered off both missiles. "Foxtrot Leader, fox four, fox four!"

"Foxtrot Two, fox four, fox four!"

"Foxtrot Three, fox four, fox four!"

"Foxtrot Five, fox four, fox four!"

"Foxtrot Seven, fox four!"

"Where's your other missile, Ulysses?" Reaper asked, glancing at her squadron display. At the same time, she rotated the fighter a hundred and eighty degrees and hit the burner, accelerating back away from the frigate, opposite the missiles. Her two missiles hit first, brilliant white flashes against the backdrop of space. More followed.

"Still stuck on my fighter!" Though they didn't look back to witness it, the powerful nuclear weapons had collapsed the frigate's shields. Ulysses' single missile detonated directly on the hull. It tore through its thin armour and obliterated half the ship, leaving only wreckage behind. Beside it, more frigates shattered and died, leaving the massive battleships with only half their escort.

Unfortunately for the allied fleet, they didn't need escorts.

**Traveler Ship _Astra_**

Larrin watched coldly as the Ori ships fired, brilliant orange-white beams arcing across the battlefield. All five impacted a hive-ship.

One of them tore straight through the middle of a hive-ship. The ship literally died, tearing itself to pieces as bulkhead collapsed and blew out. The structure was of the ship was severely compromised and secondary explosions cascaded through the vessel as its critical systems failed. The crew was killed when the ship decompressed, or when the reactors detonated in a great blue flash.

Two other beams landed grazing shots on hive-ships. One of the beams scraped across the flank of Todd's hive-ship, penetrating and blasting a hole through the aft section of the ship near its engines. That shot left two of its sublight engines obliterated, the starboard dart bays shredded and most of its offensive armament on the same side taken out. The other beam glanced off the bow of another hive-ship, tearing away part of the hull but ultimately doing little damage.

A different pair of hive-ships wasn't so lucky. On one of them, the beam hit in the middle of the bow section, blasting a large chunk out of the hive-ship. Secondary explosions ripped across the hull, but it held fast. The leviathan was crippled and out of the fight, but it was still spaceworthy. Beside it, another hive-ship had tried to dodge the fast-moving beam, and the Ori beam punched mercilessly through its engine section, tearing out five of its sublight drives. The starship valiantly continued firing, desperately trying to correct its course with its remaining engines while systems failed throughout the ship.

"Continue attack runs on the escorts, there's nothing we can do against the battleships." _And even if there was, we don't want to either._

_**Orion**_

"Major Lorne, now would be a good time to open fire!"

"Yes, ma'am, we're working on it!" Lorne shouted back. He looked down at the scientist in front of him, frantically hammering on his control console. "Grodin, what the hell happened?"

"The kinetic bleedthrough from the first hits blew out the power relays to the drones," Dr. Peter Grodin replied as he worked. "I'm trying to reroute power now."

"If their secondaries did that to us, what the hell is their main weapon going to do?" Behind Lorne, a power conduit exploded, blowing a panel off and throwing a shower of sparks onto the floor.

"Grodin, can we launch drones or not?" Lorne asked sharply. If they couldn't, there was no point in staying. An Ancient battleship was a rare find, and there was no sense wasting it.

A few more taps on the console and a shower of sparks from the ceiling. "That's it, try it now!"

Major Lorne leaned back and focused his thoughts on destroying the Ori ship. Aft of the bridge, small doors opened up on the dorsal side of the ship. A swarm of small missiles, glowing yellow, erupted from the openings and formed a solid stream that arced toward the second Ori battleship in line. Halfway there, the stream split into three separate swarms that assaulted the ship from multiple directions.

The small drones impacted the already drained shields of the battleship, the first several bouncing off after transferring their energy to the barrier. Quickly, however, the drones began to punch through. They burrowed through the relatively thin armour of the Ori vessel, tearing it apart from the inside. They had no damage control to speak of, and it wouldn't do them any good anyway. The ship quickly lost structural integrity and exploded into a field of wreckage.

The Orion shuddered gently as explosions reverberated through the hull. Hearing, seeing, _feeling_ alarms, Lorne demanded, "What the hell was that?"

"Power relays have overloaded," Grodin told him. "We can't fire again!"

The ship shuddered again, violently jerking beneath their feet. One of the other Ori battleships had opened fire on them, the massively powerful beam impacting their shields and severely draining them. Kinetic and radiation bleedthrough wreaked havoc on their already damaged systems.

"We're about to lose shields!" Grodin told him. "One more hit is gonna take us out!"

"Damn it to hell!" Major Lorne shouted. He sprung into action. "Lieutenant Cadman, pull the ZPM. We are leaving. All hands, this is Major Lorne, I am giving the order to abandon ship. Repeat, abandon ship."

He keyed the inter-ship communication system. "This is Major Lorne, requesting immediate beamout from evacuation sites. Repeat, this is Major Lorne, requesting immediate beamout from evacuation sites. We are abandoning the-"

_**Herlof**_

"-Orion," he finished, rematerializing on the command hall of the Asgard vessel.

"We have retrieved the crew of the Orion," Hermiod told the fleet commander from his control throne.

Major Lorne thought about berating the Asgard for not greeting them, but dismissed the thought. Remembering the all-important ZPM, he shouted, "Lieutenant Cadman?"

"Yes, sir!" The Lieutenant emerged from an opening in the rear of the command hall, from the compartment behind. Her armour was blackened in places, but she seemed to be okay. In her hands was a small object, which she held up. "I've got the ZPM, if that's what you're asking."

"Good." He switched comm channels. "ZPM is secure, repeat, ZPM is secure."

Turning to the Asgard, he asked, "I know it's not really my place to ask, but shouldn't you be attacking?"

"No," Hermiod replied curtly.

In front of them, a hive-ship exploded as an Ori energy beam passed through it. "We're getting our asses kicked."

"The _Herlof_ is a carrier, not a battleship." The phrase was followed by another which Lorne could not understand.

**AES _Dreadnought_**

General Weir was thrown against the edge of the holographic table as the ship violently jerked around her. There was a flurry of activity on the CIC- not that it was exactly calm before.

"We've been hit, starboard bow ventral!"

"Shields down to forty percent!"

"Hull breaches on decks twelve through fourteen, supercompartment one, compartments five through seven!"

"X turret is out of action- they blew out the traverse!"

"They're targeting us again... firing!"

"Brace for impact!" Colonel Caldwell shouted.

This time, Weir grabbed the guardrail attached to the table and braced herself. The _Dreadnought_ jerked again, giving her a sickly sensation of falling, then being punched rearward towards the aft end of the ship.

"Outer shields are gone, inner shields at seventy percent!"

Weir turned to the holographic tactical display, which promptly flickered once and died. Before reverting to the flat plotting screen behind her, she shouted, "Get that thing working!"

She keyed the communications system again, noting the position of the hive-ships and the Ori battleships firing on the Dreadnought. It seemed selfish, but if they were destroyed, they would lose command and control and all would be lost. "All units, focus fire on target designate Bravo Three!"

**Ba'al's Hive-Ship**

The Goa'uld and his Wraith host watched with pleasure as the combined fire of the hive-ships- as well as Todd's hive and the Traveler fleet- tore through the shields of an Ori mothership and blew apart the hull below. He watched with displeasure as the remaining Ori ships returned fire, wrecking two of his cruisers and one of his hive-ships.

He had his own hive-ship and three more, which were severely crippled, maybe beyond repair- _regrowth_, his host insisted. In addition to that, he had only a handful of cruisers left and most of his darts were gone. If the Ori battleships fired again, he could lose his own hive-ship. Even the secondary batteries were mercilessly tearing into his cruisers.

It was time to cut his losses. "Fleet, this is Ba'al. We are taking heavy losses and can no longer stay in the fight. I am giving the order to retreat."

With that, he nodded to his lieutenant, who relayed the necessary orders. A hyperspace window appeared in front of the vessel, and they flew through, away from the battle still raging behind them.

**AES _Dreadnought_**

"Ma'am, Ba'al's fleet just left! There's only one hive-ship left in the fight, it's Todd's!"

General Weir cursed silently. The hive-ships represented the majority of their hitting power- they were, so far, the only things capable of going against an Ori battleship with even a chance of winning. The cruisers weren't essential, but it still meant there was less opposition to the frigates.

"This is the _Normandy_, they're targeting us! Shields are down to fifty percent, we're going to lose fighter recovery capability shortly."

"_Normandy_, tactical retreat. The-" she checked the flat map. Where was the _Sigmund Jahn_? "-_Independence_ will cover you."

"Aye ma'am!"

"_Independence_, cover the _Normandy_!"

"Affirmative!"

She switched channels to the Asgard ship. "Hermiod, if you're going to open fire, do it now!"

The Asgard said something she couldn't understand, and then reluctantly, "Moving into weapons range."

_**Herlof**_

Hermiod manipulated the controls, powering up the massive sublight drives arrayed across the aft end of the vessel. It quickly accelerated, rapidly closing the distance between it and the Ori motherships. The three remaining ships shifted fire and the _Herlof_ shuddered as the beams impacted its powerful shields. The impact weakened them severely, but did not penetrate.

"I am firing."

A pair of brilliant blue-white beams of plasma erupted from the emitters on the extreme bow of the starship. They impacted the shields of the lead Ori vessel near the midsection. Already weakened by constant bombardment, the powerful shields collapsed. One of the Asgard beams missed, passing through the hollow centre of the ship, while the other hit aft, obliterating the engine section. Secondary explosions ripped through the arms of the ship as power conduits overloaded. The primary hull began to break apart before completely exploding as the main reactor overloaded and detonated.

"Interesting."

"What is-" Weir asked over the comm net, her sentence punctuated by what sounded like an explosion.

"The Ori fleet has ceased fire and is accelerating," Hermiod reported. In front of them, the Ori starships pulled back together in formation and turned toward a gap in the defending fleet.

"Fire everything you've got! Move to cover, don't let them get away!" Her command came too late. The only ships that moved quick enough to block their path were the darts, which were swatted like flies against the shields of the massive warships. Weapons fire arced toward the escaping fleet, but before they could do any real damage, a giant hyperspace window opened and they were gone.

**AES Dreadnought**

"We threw everything we had at them and we could still only force a draw."

Brigadier General Elizabeth Weir surveyed her battlefield. Despite the apparent destruction, the Pegasus fleet had fared somewhat better than its Milky Way counterpart. They had destroyed three Ori battleships and a dozen frigates at the cost of most of their hive-ships, the _Orion_, the _Sigmund Jahn_, an Asgard O'Neill, and countless other ships. Even what was left was damaged- several ships considered intact were actually completely dead in the water.

The CIC of the _Dreadnought _was buried deep inside the ship. That gave it the most protection they could afford. It was enough to keep it combat capable, but not undamaged. The flat-panel displays lining the room were smashed to pieces, and the holographic tactical map had quit halfway through the battle. Several control consoles had ceased functioning, there were still a few fires and burn marks from others. Most of the crew had at least minor injuries- several were dead.

The _Dreadnought_ had taken the most punishment of any starship in recent history and survived. One energy beam had ripped through the bow, wrecking the first two supercompartments. The Compartment Isolation Shielding System had contained the damage, preventing a catastrophic chain reaction. Even with her main gun out of action, the ship continued to fight, and took another glancing blow to the aft hull below the reactors. That had punched through the shields and obliterated most of the thick trinium-alloy armour plating. Another direct hit destroyed one of the flight pods. The ship had also taken a great deal of damage from the Ori escorts and secondary weapons. They had two sublight engines, one main reactor, and no shields or hyperdrive.

"If you can even call this a draw. Our allies want to know why we lost."


	3. Bury Your Dead (Part 3)

****My muse came back, to a degree, and 3x03 Bury Your Dead is now released. It's rushed and I'm not exactly proud of it, but it's three weeks late and I need to get moving. Hoping to release 3x04 by the end of the month, but I doubt that will happen as I haven't started and I'm busy with other things.

* * *

**SGD 3x03 Bury Your Dead (Part 3)**

**January 1, 2006  
P3Y-229**

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Carter to all allied ships in the area. If you can hear me, please respond."

She had repeated that phrase, or some variant thereof, for what seemed like ages. As the battle unfolded around her, she had floated with only her armour between her delicate body and the cold vacuum of space. Thankfully, she had her thruster pack, allowing her to move around a little. She had tried burning for cover behind the supergate but it was much further away than it looked.

After a while, she gave up and simply locked herself in place. She had a good view of the battle, and it was terrifying. Not just because they were losing, but because occasionally a stray energy beam or missile would fly her way. Some came so close she could practically feel them. She was under no illusions. If she was hit, even light anti-fighter weapons would punch right through her shields.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Carter to all allied ships in the area. If you can hear-"

"This is Thor. I am beaming you aboard the Enterprise." There was only a moment to appreciate the cold statement before she disappeared in a flash of light.

**AES _Enterprise_**

"I don't see what we can do. Signal the fleet. We'll tell them exactly what went wrong, literally how the Ori defeated us. What else can we say?"

In a flash of light, another figure appeared on the bridge. Surprise evident in his voice, O'Neill greeted, "Carter! Glad to see you're in one piece."

She looked around briefly before pulling off her helmet and tossing it to the floor. A grim smile was on her face. "Sir. Thor gave me a ride."

"Ah."

"You okay, Sam?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. I'd love a good reunion, but..." She turned back to O'Neill. "The score isn't good, is it, sir?"

The General turned to the viewscreen, which displayed the carnage outside. "No."

He turned back and ordered the comm officer, "Open a channel to the fleet."

"Channel open, sir."

O'Neill muttered something under his breath before clearing his throat. "This is General Jack O'Neill. While I would rather say that we didn't lose, I don't think it's in anyone's best interest to debate semantics. I'd like all fleet commanders to come over to the Enterprise for a conference. You want to know why we lost? We're going to figure it out _together_."

He signalled for the officer to cut the connection, and when he got the all clear, exhaled loudly. "Damn, that sucked!"

"I think the whole situation sucks, sir."

**M2N-571  
AES _Dreadnought_**

Weir nodded slowly. "Put me on fleetwide comms."

The comm officer nodded. "You're on, ma'am."

She took a deep breath. "This is General Weir speaking. I know a lot of you are confused. I know a lot of you aren't happy with the outcome of this battle. But I would like to make two things clear.

"First, I think it's a little premature and a little harsh on ourselves to say we lost. Our losses were heavy, yes, but we destroyed three Ori battleships and the majority of their frigates. That's half a fleet that won't be able to invade the galaxy. I think that's a victory, or at least a draw.

"Second, pointing fingers is the worst thing we can do at this point. On our own, none of us could have accomplished what we did here today. There is strength in unity, strength that we harnessed and that we must continue to draw from. We took the beating we did because- and I hate to admit this- the Ori were better, technologically and numerically.

"We can still defeat the Ori. This is not the-"

"Ma'am, picking up hyperspace windows!" the sensor officer suddenly interrupted.

"What?"

"Looks like a hive-ship and four cruisers, closing fast."

"Sound battle stations. Signal the fleet."

"There's no way we can fight them off without losing half of what we've got left," Sheppard advised her.

"I'm aware of that." Weir nodded. "Open a channel to the hive-ship."

He shook his head. "No response."

"And here I thought we were finally out of this mess."

**Earth  
Washington, D.C.**

Once again, General Hammond found himself traversing the hallways of the Stargate Alliance building. This time, however, the mood was far different. He had been finishing up a financial report- doing paperwork while under extreme stress was an acquired skill- when the message came in. It was a short subspace burst, including the order of battle and a simple message- "Traded fleet for one ship, handful of escorts. Crusade has begun."

Within five minutes, he had informed his superiors, the politicians that actually ran the Stargate Alliance, for better or for worse. While a meeting was quickly planned and convened, a second message had come in. It was more wordy, but only slightly more optimistic. Three ships had been destroyed in Pegasus, at the cost of several hive-ships, the Orion, and the majority of the Traveler battlegroup.

"Why have we lost?" was the immediate question that came up. Although Shen Xiaoyi was the first to voice it, all were feeling the same way. They wanted answers. And they felt fear. He could use that.

"I think it is important that we dispel any accusations of foul play right now. Our allies fought admirably, even the ones we believed we could not trust. The only exception is Ba'al, who pulled out when his fleet was being decimated. As much as I hate to say it, the Ori won fair and square."

"So then you admit it, General?" Russel Chapman, of Britain, questioned darkly. "We've lost, then. Our fleets are decimated, our armies are no match. We've nothing to do but sit and wait."

"I would not be so hasty, sir," Hammond cautioned. "Just because we've lost one battle doesn't mean we've lost the war. There are six billion souls on this world and countless more in the galaxy that rely on us for their continued existence."

"They tore through a fleet of Ha'tak, a few hive-ships, and three-quarters of our capital ships."

"And traded half of their own fleet for it," the General insisted.

"I think it is best that we return to the original question for the time being," Jean LaPierre interjected. "General, can you concisely state the reason behind the outcome of the battle?"

"The Ori have technological superiority. Details will be forthcoming, but at this point we know their warships are extremely powerful. We hit them with everything we had."

"So they have arrived in our galaxy," the Japanese representative mused.

"And Pegasus as well."

"And we cannot fight them in space?"

"As of this point, our options are limited. Our best minds are trying to come up with unconventional tactics, but conventional battles are out. On the other hand, our Asgard allies have had success against the Ori."

"And on the ground?"

"We do not know the true extent of their capabilities, but our estimates put them between the Goa'uld and terrestrial armies in regards to equipment and training, leaning towards the former. Considering the size of their ships and territory, however, they could bring very large forces to bear on their enemies."

"I believe that it would prudent to initiate diplomatic action at this point," the German representative added.

"Mister Representative, it is far too late to consider peace or even a conditional surrender with the Ori. They have already attacked us, and we have already retaliated. Additionally, the Ori ideology precludes such an event from occuring. It would be unacceptable to allow us to remain in any capacity other than worshipping their false gods. For better or for worse, my recommendation is direct military action."

"Excuse me, General. Did you not just say that attacking the Ori would be foolhardy at best?" LaPierre pressed.

"I said that we could not equal them in direct combat," Hammond replied, choosing his words carefully. "I believe that we can mount a successful resistance. The galaxy is a large place, ladies and gentlemen. It gives us a lot of room to manoeuvre."

"First we fight alongside our enemy, now we're fighting like terrorists," the British representative pointed out. "It's turning into one peculiar war, isn't it?"

"It is, sir." Hammond paused. "I should also add that SG-1 may once again be the best hope for defeating the Ori."

"The Sangraal?" Shen Xiaoyi asked. "I thought they couldn't find it?"

"Not yet, but I believe that it is out there, we can find it, and it will help us defeat the Ori. Our experts agree with my assessment."

"We will take that under advisement. Thank you, General." The important points had already been made- the rest of the meeting was basically a long, drawn out game of politics.

**P3Y-229  
AES _Enterprise_**

A Lieutenant poked his head into the conference room and shouted over a round of bitter squabbling "Sir, we're picking up inbound vessels on long-range scanners."

"What?" O'Neill responded, making his way to the front of the room and bringing up a tactical display.

Amaterasu stood and shouted at the General, "Traitor! You pull us away from our fleets so you may deal the finishing blow!"

"You're the fool!" Gerak accused her. "If you didn't see it then-"

"The Tau'ri are not the betrayers!" Rak'nor shouted over him.

"Can't we all just get along?" La'el lamented from beside him.

"Enough!" General O'Neill shouted. "You will be returned to your ships immediately. After that, run if you want, stay and fight if you can, and get blown to pieces if you can't."

He turned to the officer who had interrupted them. "Lieutenant, make sure everyone gets back to their ship."

"Yes, sir."

O'Neill left the Lieutenant with her duties and headed down the passageway to a set of stairs- ladders, the wet-navy folks called them, and he could understand why- up a deck, and forward down another (guarded) corridor into the CIC. Inside, the crew waited nervously at their stations.

He asked simply, "Time to intercept?"

"Four minutes, thirty-one seconds at current velocity, sir."

**M2N-571  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"Inbound vessels are in weapons range and are charging weapons," Major Marks informed the rest of the bridge crew.

"Status?" Caldwell asked sharply.

"Partial main power, reactors one and two online. Main shields offline, secondary shields at thirty percent, A, C, X and Y turrets out of action, holes in point defence coverage in the bow quarter. Maximum available thrust is ahead one-third."

"Ahead one third," Caldwell ordered. "Come right three-zero romeo. Bring B and Z turrets to bear on that hive ship and prepare to fire."

"Sir, enemy vessels are firing!" The Dreadnought shuddered as the powerful energy bolts thumped into her shields, severely draining and heavily leaking through the compromised barriers. Hull plating burned away and holes opened through the thick hull as interior spaces vented atmosphere and internal systems were destroyed.

He glanced at General Weir, who simply nodded. "Return fire! All batteries!"

The starship shuddered again, this time under the force of its own massive railguns. The turreted battery of the battleship was nothing compared to its main gun, but they were still formidable weapons. Five tungsten slugs blazed toward the hive-ship at extreme velocity. On impact, they smashed holes through the organic armour, wrecking everything in their path. They didn't deliver a killing blow, but the hive-ship definitely felt it. Angrily, the Wraith fleet shifted their fire.

"They just knocked out our main battery! Venting atmosphere from sections eleven through seventeen, multiple decks! Shields are down!"

"Hermiod, can you move to cover us?" Weir shouted over the fleet comms.

"Affirmative," replied the cool voice of the Asgard. The colossal Asgard carrier moved between the Wraith fleet and the Dreadnought, earning them a brief respite as its stronger shields took the powerful impacts. The _Herlof_ returned fire with its secondary battery, tearing into the cruiser escorts rather than the hive-ships. "However, I cannot remain in position for much longer."

"Sir, picking up multiple hyperspace windows!" the sensor officer reported frantically. "They're not Wraith, sir!"

"Then who the hell are they?" General Weir asked, followed by Caldwell a second later.

"Unknown, sir, closest signature in the database is Asgard."

"Hail them!"

"No response!"

"Sir, ma'am, unknown vessels are engaging the Wraith fleet."

As they watched, eight rounded grey vessels began pounding the hive-ship and four remaining cruisers with bolts of orange energy. The Wraith shifted their fire again, managing to wipe out two of the smaller ships before the cruisers and damaged hive-ship were torn apart by the unknown enemy. As soon as the leviathan began breaking apart, the newcomers accelerated away and jumped to hyperspace.

"That's it?" Weir asked rhetorically.

"Yes, ma'am. They're gone."

**P3Y-229  
AES _Enterprise_**

General O'Neill watched the ships approach on the viewscreen. There were seven in total, all Ha'tak, probably the latest post-Anubis generation. "Major, open a-"

The communications officer cut him off. "Sir, they're hailing _us_. Audio-visual, Goa'uld protocol."

"Put it on," O'Neill ordered. The cruel face of Netan, Lucian Alliance leader, filled the screen.

"Tau'ri. Jaffa. Asgard. The Lucian Alliance has declared control of your ships. Drop your shields and prepare to be boarded. You will not be harmed."

"Is this guy fucking nuts?" O'Neill asked nobody in particular. Even in their damaged state, the fleet could hold their own against the Ha'tak. Provided they stick together. "That son of a bitch."

He turned to the comm officer. "Patch me through."

"You're on, sir."

O'Neill briefly debated with himself whether to act the general or act flippant. "Netan. I'm afraid the answer is no. You see, we can still kick your ass if we so choose. You're the ones who should be powering down your shields and surrendering."

Netan smiled gleefully. "Perhaps that would be true if your current allies stayed your allies. However, if, say, the traditionalists and the minor Goa'uld were to switch sides, things may be a little bit different."

"Sir, one Free Jaffa Ha'tak and all minor Goa'uld Ha'tak are breaking formation. I believe they intend to join with the enemy."

_Perfect._ O'Neill decided to try another tactic. "I think we've got off on the wrong foot. Fighting each other is not going to do us any good. Remember how we talked about how the Ori are a clear and present danger to the continued survival of the entire galaxy? Right, you weren't there. What exactly did Kefflin tell you?"

"That the Tau'ri would attempt to fight the Ori," Netan answered simply, not giving away too much.

General O'Neill had not actually planned it, but was figuring things out on the go. It surprised even him how well they were going. "Right. A nice juicy target, all softened up, and some rogue Ha'tak to join your side. Did he remember to mention the Asgard and the Hebridanians?"

There was no response. The Lucian Alliance leader sat there, contemplating, and he pressed forward. "Just think about it, will ya? If you were a Second trying to get in power, this would be a perfect opportunity. You can get ol' Netan out of the way and blow up a couple Tau'ri ships in the process."

"That traitor!" Netan hissed. He cleared his throat. "I will deal with this afterwards. It changes nothing. Lower your shields or suffer the consequences."

The entire bridge was silent as the two men played their game of words, a fact O'Neill was all too aware of. Too close to back out now. "And what would that prove? Say you win the battle- and we both know there's going to be a battle. Then what? You've lost half your fleet, and the only thing left to take is some scrap metal."

"You will still have lost your ships!"

"Sir, the Free Jaffa vessel is returning to our formation."

O'Neill nodded and swallowed. Damn it, he fought with guns, not words! Although it was comfortable enough to get used to... "You aren't thinking of the bigger picture. We stand together and we can stop the Ori. We don't, and they steamroll the galaxy. Do you think they're going to let you keep selling crack on street corners?"

Netan looked puzzled at the Earth reference, so he continued. "They're going to hunt down every last one of you and burn you alive. At least against us, you've got a chance and a legal system. I can't make this decision for you, but just think about it a bit."

"This exchange is not over," Netan spat before the screen went blank. In front of the allied fleet, the Lucian Alliance vessels gunned their engines and accelerated away.

General Jack O'Neill took a deep breath. "That's one bullet dodged. Somehow I don't think that's the last we'll see of him."

**Earth  
Washington, D.C.**

The President rubbed his temples fiercely. Even without the action, General Hammond could tell the man was tired. His face was wrinkled and his hair was greying, sure signs of the stress that was consuming the man. The yellow stains on his fingers gave away the quiet smoking habit he had developed two years ago during the Goa'uld invasion.

He stood up and paced the office that had been his home even more than the living area in the same building. Abruptly, he turned to the man standing patiently by his desk and said, "We just can't win, can we?"

General Hammond shook his head. "I disagree, sir. I think that if we escalate to a total war footing, and if our allies are-"

"Not that, George. I know we can win against the Ori. Wouldn't be the first time we've won against impossible odds." President Hayes paused and sighed. "But we're always at war. It seems we'll always be at war. The moment we defeat one enemy, another one comes up to take their place. We defeat the Goa'uld, a whole bunch of little powers come up to take their place, then the Ori come in and sweep them away. I'm sure that if they get through this, the Wraith will just love to come here to eat us alive. And if we defeat them, who's next? We can't stay at war forever."

"I think you're being a little hasty, Mister President," the General cautioned him, a little more hasty than he intended.

"Yeah. You're right, George." He smiled ruefully. "One step at a time."

"They're ready for you, Mister President," Megan, his secretary, told him from the door.

"Well, showtime." President Henry Hayes smoothed his suit, straightened his tie, and marched confidently out of the Oval Office.

He had a mask of perfect confidence, with a hint of a grim frown, by the time he reached the Press Room. Cameras clicked and journalists shouted as the President of the United States made his way to the centre of the stage. He tapped twice on the microphone and a hushed silence fell over the room.

"Thank you. My fellow Americans, as of this moment, the United States of America is officially at war. The Ori have invaded our galaxy. They are a powerful foe, but I would like to urge that we can make it through this. However, every one of you is going to have to do your part. As of this moment, we are on a total war footing.

"A few hours ago, the allied fleet was decimated by the Ori invasion force. Our AESF forces are currently regrouping and American forces are preparing to deploy-"

Halting his speech, an aide rushed over and whispered something in the President's ear. His face briefly fell before regaining his composure. He addressed the crowd again. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but a very urgent matter just came up. You'll be filled in on the details as they become available."


	4. Repeating History (Part 1)

**SGD 3x04 Repeating History, Part 4**

**January 2, 2006  
Chulak**

Rak'nor watched helplessly as they began descending from the sky. Half an hour earlier, a pair of Ori battleships, escorted by two smaller frigates, arrived in the system. Very quickly, the token defensive fleet had been completely obliterated. Strangely, the Ori fleet had largely refrained from orbital bombardment, only hitting communications and some military installations. For that, they were fortunate.

There were still a few cloaked stealth ships in orbit, although they could do nothing against the Ori leviathan as it descended toward the planet, leaving the frigates in orbit. It seemed a strange move, but it made sense in context. The Ori fought much like the Goa'uld. They fought a war of terror. Most of their communications had been wiped out, but not all. The Jaffa world was able to send off a message, a plea for help.

He checked his staff weapon and armour. "Ready the men. The crusade has begun."

**Earth  
Washington, D.C.**

"Damn it to hell!" President Hayes shouted in the privacy of his office. "This is about the last way I wanted to start a new year!"

He turned to General Hammond, an intense fire in his eyes. "George, I'm convening an emergency meeting of the Stargate Alliance. Any more information you can give me."

The General put down the phone in his hand and nodded. "We don't know a lot at this time, Mister President. We know that the Ori have landed troops on Chulak by landing one of their battleships. Its escorts- two or three frigates- remain in orbit. Current estimates put the capacity of one of those ships somewhere between division and corps size, in addition to several hundred fighters."

"What are they up against?" the President asked, fumbling with a cigarette.

"Whatever defensive fleet the Free Jaffa had is gone, sir. The Free Jaffa can mobilize several brigades of warriors, however, many of those will be militia formations, poorly trained and poorly equipped. They have a sizeable force of Death Gliders, though those will likely be destroyed very quickly. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the Ori will engage in orbital bombardment."

"The odds aren't good, are they?" He took a drag on the cigarette.

Hammond shook his head. "No, Mister President, I put them at about ten to one against."

The President coughed and stood up. "What do we have to reinforce them?"

"The AESF has the First OEF ready to deploy in this galaxy, the Third and Fourth can be deployed if it is absolutely necessary, but I do not recommend it, Mister President. There's also EUROFORCE and RRF/EP as well as the Chinese force, should those units be released by their respective countries. The US Army has the First and Second USEU and the Marines have the Third USEU- all can be deployed within twenty-four hours. If necessary, we can commit our terrestrial forces- the Marine Expeditionary Units will be the fastest to deploy."

"And you don't think the Free Jaffa can take care of themselves?" the President asked again.

"With all due respect to our allies, Mister President, they will have their hands full. The Free Jaffa have limited resources, and I suspect most will be delegated to protecting Dakara. They will reinforce Chulak, but I honestly cannot tell you if they have enough to break the siege."

"Damn it." President Hayes took another drag on the cigarette.

**Chulak**

The battle began in the sky. Thousands of Death Gliders and Al'Kesh were launched to attack the Ori before they could gain a foothold. In response, the Ori battleship disgorged its own fighters, which ended up engaged with the Jaffa within minutes. The Jaffa pilots were seasoned and hardened veterans, but their experience could not make up for the technological and numerical superiority of the Ori.

For every Jaffa fighter there were two Ori ones, each faster and more manoeuvrable. Though neither side had missiles, the Ori weapons fired faster, and their fighters were equipped with shields. The Jaffa pilots quickly found it would take three or four hits to take down an Ori fighter. Still, they weren't completely unsuccessful. Hundreds of Ori starfighters rained down from the sky to join their former adversaries below.

Once the Ori battleship landed, the ground battle began. Ori warriors streamed from hatches on the underside of the ship and were immediately met with heavy resistance. The Jaffa were fewer in number and inferior in equipment, but had some key advantages. They were expecting an invasion, and had dug in using whatever they could get- buildings, rubble, and a Tau'ri invention called 'sandbag'.

Initially, the Ori warriors rushed into the streets, but were quickly assaulted and forced back by a hail of Kalashnikov, staff weapon, and M2 machine gun fire. It turned into a deadly game of urban warfare, intense fighting in the cramped streets of the largest Jaffa city in the galaxy. The Ori used their air supremacy to great effect, bombing suspected Jaffa hardpoints to clear a path for their troops.

But the Ori had forgotten something, and that was the steely resolve of warriors desperately defending their home. The Jaffa were giving them a hell of a fight.

**P3Y-229**

Floating among the wreckage, perfectly hidden by its cloaking device, sat a lone cargoship belonging to the Tok'ra. Aboard it, two agents sat, utterly bored by their mission. Their relief would not arrive for two days yet, and they would have to continue to observe the supergate until they arrived. With the galaxy plunged into war, their relief could be delayed significantly.

Sina bolted upright in her seat as the alarm began to blare at her. She quickly awoke the agent next to her as readouts appeared in front of her. Even without them, it was obvious what was happening.

Electrical energy crackled across the surface of the supergate as it activated, sending out a colossal unstable vortex and disintegrated literal tons of debris. Seconds after the wormhole had formed, the first ships began to exit. The Tok'ra counted four battleships and eight frigates before the supergate shut down.

Once they were sure the supergate would not activate again, they decloaked and powered a subspace transmitter. The communique was short and to the point, but no less disturbing.

**Tegalus**

"It's not the Rand Protectorate, Minister."

Under normal circumstances, those words would be a relief. Their nuclear arsenal was armed and ready to fire, their armies were on the march, and civil defense was at full readiness. That the world was not about to end in nuclear fire should have been a relief.

However, in this case, it chilled the blood in Minister Chaska's veins. She knew who had invaded their territory- the Ori. The Rand Protectorate they could fight, they could reason with- they knew them. But the Ori were unknowable and technologically advanced. They knew the power the Ori could wield, from orbital bombardment to biological warfare.

It seemed, however, this time they intended to wage more conventional warfare. "Get me a line to space command."

"Space command, Minister." An aide handed her a phone, which she brought to her face.

"This is Minister Chaska. I need a status report on those interstellar vessels."

A very stressed voice came through. "Uh, yes, ma'am, the smaller objects, both of them are staying in orbit, the bigger ones, uh, one is heading toward us, and the other is going towards the Rand Protectorate-"

"Calm down, please. Are you saying they're landing?"

"Uh, yes, ma'am. One is landing on Caledonian territory, the other seems to be headed toward the Rand Protectorate."

"Thank you. That will be all."

She picked up another phone, this one a vivid green. "President Pernaux? The Ori are here."

**AES _Thor_**

"What's the word, Captain?" a large man with broad shoulders and a well-defined musculature asked, falling into step behind a shorter, slimmer woman. Both wore grey AESF uniform pants with their issued black T-shirts.

"We're headed to Chulak," Captain Leighanne Watkins told him as she jogged down the long halls of the formerly Asgard ship. "Order came in a couple of hours ago. We're going to reinforce our allies."

"What do you think of that, Captain?" Sergeant Adam Kelly asked, slowing down to allow the Captain to keep up with his faster pace. She seemed to be a decent leader, but he'd be very surprised if the slight woman could carry a ruck at all.

"We support our allies. Bring the fight to the Ori."

"Not worried about Earth?"

"We're the OEF. It's our job to go out into the void," she paused for breath, "And strike the enemy. Defending Earth isn't in our MO."

"Too right." They began to slow, approaching the large hangar bay that had become something of a meeting spot for the expeditionary unit. "What's the plan, ma'am?"

"We think the Ori have jammers up, so we're dropping in A-3s. It's us poor infantry first, then the heavy firepower. All they're saying is that they want us to smash the Ori lines, but I think Command's got something bigger in mind."

"Something like an Ori mothership?" Adam asked. She simply shrugged in response.

**Langara**

"Mister Quinn, we have a situation," a woman said from the threshold of his office.

"Please, it's Jonas, you know that." Despite his gentle objection, Jonas Quinn stood up and followed her out of the office. It was a short trip to the frantic interior of the situation room.

He asked simply, "It's the Ori, isn't it."

"I'm afraid so, sir," one of the technicians told him from behind his console. "Three vessels in orbit- wait, one appears to be descending into the atmosphere."

"So Earth and their alliance failed. The invasion has begun." He wished they had succeeded, for the sake of both worlds, but in the back of his mind suspected they would not be able to stop the Ori and they would invade. He knew what they were capable of. It wasn't pretty. Jonas took a deep breath.

"Get me First Minister Dreylock, please." He turned to another technician and calmly asked, "Can you dial Earth and tell them what's happening?"

"First Minister Dreylock on the line, sir."

He took the phone. "They're invading, First Minister. Whatever Earth did didn't work. I know. I'm sorry."

**January 3, 2006  
Earth  
Washington, D.C.**

President Henry Hayes waited impatiently with the rest of the Stargate Council. Each member nation was technically represented by their head of state; for obvious reasons each chose a representative to meet in their stead. The fact that the President of the United States, the President of the Russian Federation, and the Prime Minister of Canada were there in person only served to underline the seriousness of the situation.

After everyone had taken their seat, he began simply. "Yesterday morning, an Ori invasion force landed on Chulak. Two hours after that, we received a message from Tegalus stating that they were under attack by Ori forces. Four hours ago, we received a message from Langara stating that they, too had been invaded."

He took a deep breath. "Additionally, we received a communication from a Tok'ra vessel observing the supergate. Four more Ori capital ships and eight frigates entered the galaxy with no opposition. The situation is grim, gentlemen. The Ori will undoubtedly continue to invade the galaxy. We must prepare for the possibility that Earth will be next."

"And Pegasus?" the Prime Minister of Canada asked.

The American President shook his head. "We haven't heard much from Atlantis, other than that they've had no luck tracking down the mystery ships. Hopefully, the Wraith are giving the Ori a run for their money."

"You know it is bad situation when we pray for our sworn enemies," the Russian President said gravely. "Our allies, how are they doing?"

"The Free Jaffa are fighting hard on Chulak. Our last reports indicate that they retain control of the stargate and the Ori progress has stagnated. It's becoming a war of attrition, brutal urban combat, and from what I've been told the Jaffa can't hold out forever.

President Hayes took a deep breath, then continued. "We don't know anything about Tegalus or Langara, other than that they've been attacked and that they're fighting. We can only hope that they're giving the Ori a hell of a fight. Given the differences in technology, however, that may be too much to hope for. We know that both worlds are equipped with weapons of mass destruction. They may deploy them.

"I'd also like to add that the situation could change at any moment. The Ori are moving into our galaxy, and they're moving fast. The Jaffa might decide to commit their forces to take back Chulak, but they know it would leave Dakara vulnerable. Dakara itself might come under attack. The Ori might decide to land reinforcements on one of the planets. They might invade another world- maybe Hebridan or Orban. On any of these planets, if the defenders lose the gate, Ori reinforcements pour in and it's over."

He took a sip of water and another deep breath. "The United States of America is at full readiness and transitioning to a total war footing. My recommendation is that we commit our forces immediately."

As expected, the room broke into a chorus of argumentative shouting. Mikhailovich roared, "Mister President, you cannot be serious!"

Hayes held up a hand. "We are in this together. We are all in this together. It's the same situation as the Goa'uld two years ago, except the whole galaxy is involved. We need to support our allies, strike back at the Ori, and buy ourselves some time."

"President Hayes, are you suggesting we trade away the lives of our young men to buy time for our allies?" the British representative asked.

"No. I'm saying we need to trade away our forces to buy time for us. At this point, we cannot stop the Ori. If they reach Earth, we might be able to defend ourselves, once. But the rest of the galaxy is going to fall, and eventually we will, too. We can't defeat the Ori conventionally. We need to find a way to hit back, to take the fight to them, but until then, we need to keep them tied up as far away from Earth as possible.

"The AESF is already committed. The United States of America is willing to commit its own expeditionary forces, and we will take the fight to the Ori, with or without international cooperation."

"Well," the French representative said quietly. "There's only one choice, really, isn't there?"

His voice became a little louder. "As much as I hate to admit it, President Hayes is correct. We are at war. Fighting a war means sending our young men far away to fight wars that no-one understands fully. We must, as President Hayes put it, 'buy ourselves some time'."

**SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Is it really that bad?"

"They decimated the fleet, sir. That was most of what this galaxy could muster. I think we're going to have to pull-"

"Got it! Got it!" Daniel announced, running down the corridor with a book in his hand. General O'Neill raised an eyebrow at Carter, who simply shrugged in response.

"I made the connection!" Daniel explaind. "Sir Gawain to Gwalchmei. Culwhch and Olwen. Verus Gen Bree."

"Danny! What the hell did you just say?" Jack asked.

"And you say I'm hard to understand, sir," Carter quipped lightly.

"It's Vegonbrei. One of the planets Meurik mentioned, one of the planets that Arthur and his knights went to in search of the holy grail. I found the gate address."

"Why didn't you just say so?" O'Neill asked him, motioning with his arm and heading toward one of the briefing rooms."

"I'm sorry, how did you figure that out?" Vala asked, reminding everyone of the newcomer in their midst. It was a situation much like when Jonas Quinn joined SG-1, except_ in addition to_ rather than _instead of_. There was no malice intended, but they were still getting used to having a new member of the group.

"While on PX1-767, we got the names of three planets: Castiana, Sahal, and Vagonbrei. Unfortunately, what we didn't get were any corresponding gate addresses, and the process of going through that library page by page looking for clues would take months even with the whole archaeology department on it. So, I knew we were going to have to narrow the search parameters a little. That's when it hit me: Sir Gawain."

"Isn't he one of the knights who say ni?" O'Neill asked, sitting down at the conference table.

"He was a Knight of the Round Table," Daniel clarified, glaring daggers at him. "In one of his earliest incarnations, an old Welsh tale, he went on a quest to help rescue a lost love. The legend says that Sir Gawain, AKA Gwalchmei, visited several lands over the course of his adventure, including a place called _Gwlad Gan Brenhinol Gwir_, which is Welsh for 'Land of Royal Truth'."

"And that has exactly what to do with what we're looking for?"

"Translate that into Ancient, and you get 'Verus Gen Bree'. Vegonbrei." Daniel paused. "Now, this didn't give me a gate address, but it gave me something to look for."

He passed the book to O'Neill. "Now, the entire volume is dedicated to Gawain's adventures and includes several very interesting illustrations, including a depiction of a sword he once carried. Note the symbols engraved on the blade."

"It's a gate address," O'Neill immediately acknowledged. "You have a go. Find that weapon."


	5. Repeating History (Part 2)

**SGD 3x05 Repeating History, Part 2**

**January 4, 2005  
Vegonbrei**

Carefully, SG-1 stepped through the village. An overcast sky and heavy fog cast a creepy atmosphere over the area. It initially appeared to be another medieval or perhaps Renaissance town, but street lighting gave it away as post-Industrial, at the earliest. The village was completely dark, utterly silent, and devoid of life.

"Hello?" Daniel called. "Hello!"

"It's not going to do any good, Daniel," Sam told him, shaking her head. "No lifesigns that I can detect within a five kilometer radius. There's nobody here."

Beside them, Teal'c lifted the back of a wooden bench, which crumbled at his touch. "It is obvious this village has long been abandoned."

"Aren't we going to try to find out what happened?" Vala asked. She motioned toward one of the larger buildings. "Let's try in here."

Sam looked at Daniel, who shrugged. "It's a good a place as any."

Nodding in response, she stepped toward the house with the rest of SG-1 behind her. She slowly opened the door, which creaked open on unsteady hinges. With her other hand, she turned on the flashlight at the end of her rifle.

The building was clearly a home- or had once been a home. The drapes were rotten and tattered, and cobwebs wove their way between chairs, tables, bowls, and bottles. Strangely, except for natural deterioration, the place looked completely untouched.

Vala had already made her way into the bedroom. She poked her head out. "I think you should take a look at this."

Following Sam's lead, the rest of the team filed inside. What they found was both disgusting and horrifying. Two skeletons, the tattered remains of their clothes still clinging to them, were lying on the bed.

Her eyes flicked upwards toward the reassuring pale blue CBRN-SEAL icon. "Well, I guess we know why there's noone here."

**Earth  
Camp Pendleton  
**

"What did the dog drag in today?" a burly, tanned man asked, looking up from the rifle in pieces at his feet. Two women had entered the tent. One was taller than the other, blond with hazel eyes. The other was shorter, with darker skin, darker hair, darker eyes- with a hint of Asian and Latino. Both were carrying several bags and wore hiking boots and jungle vests. At least they weren't wearing flip-flops.

The tall one spoke up first. "I'm Daphne Rivers, correspondent with CNN. My friends call me Dee... for that matter, so do my enemies."

"I'm afraid I'm neither, Miss Rivers," he growled, the joke appearing to fall flat. Motioning to the other, shorter woman, he asked, "Who's the lady with the camera?"

"Uh, um, McEllis." She shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"First name?"

"I thought you only use last names?" Dee asked, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms. There was never a sure way to deal with stubborn soldiers, but standing up to their verbal abuse was generally a start. Being an asshole was part of the warrior culture, the male bravado. She'd learned that what seemed like years ago, in Afghanistan.

Her camerawoman, unfortunately, was still new to the whole thing. Her natural shyness would not serve her well.

"Just answer the damn question."

"Um, Tina. It's Tina."

The Sergeant cracked a smile. He wasn't a _complete_ asshole, after all. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it, _Tina_? I'm Sergeant Jacob Sullivan."

He extended his hand, which Tina gingerly took. "Um, nice to meet you, I guess."

Sergeant Sullivan sighed and put down the half-assembled gun. "Look, we're going into a combat zone. Do you know what that means? You're going to be shot at. You're going to have to move and move fast. Miss McEllis, are you going to lock up when the shit hits the fan."

"Uh, no." A little more confidence, that was good. "Believe it or not, I can handle... stressful situations much better than I can... talk... to people."

"Miss Rivers, Miss McEllis," another Sergeant called, poking his head in the door. The soldiers inside immediately recognized him as part of the supply element.

"Hey, Sergeant," a Corporal near the back of the tent called. "I think it's great that we finally got desert MOPP suits, since we, you know, didn't get any in Iraq, but did someone forget that Chulak is not, you know, a fucking desert?"

"This goes above me. I can only issue what I have, and what I have is desert," he deflected, turning to the two women. "Come with me, please."

"May I ask why?" Dee asked, following him out of the tent.

He shrugged. "Someone dropped off a package for you."

"Jesus Christ, Jesus Fucking Christ," the Corporal swore after the duo had left. "Back in '03 I was in a unit where they stuck us with an embedded journalist. Rolling Fucking Stone. Then I end up in a unit that doesn't just ship off to another country, oh no. We ship off to another fucking world. As if that wasn't bad enough, by some fucked-up twist of fate, we get another embedded journalist, except this time there's two, and they're girls. Seriously, what the fuck is up with this universe?"

"Corporal-" the Sergeant cautioned.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Too much Ripped Fuel. 's what they told me back in Iraq." He paused and turned to his immediate superior. "But man? That place ain't half as fucked up as where we're going, and it was pretty fucked up."

"Welcome to the greater galaxy, Corporal. The whole place is a backwards mess of bullshit religions, medieval societies with energy weapons, and organized crime as a substitute for economies."

"So, basically, Africa?" a pale-faced Marine quipped from the back of the tent.

Another Marine glared at him. "Dawg, that ain't funny. Just cause their shit different don't mean you get to be an asshole about it. Could say much the same thing about white man in America."

The Corporal shook his head. "Does _every_ unit have an ambiguously brown guy always blaming the problems of the world on white man?"

Outside the tent, their Lieutenant, a lithe African-American, was briefing- really, more like lecturing- the journalists. They shifted uncomfortably in their new armour as he talked.

"Are you aware of the Geneva Conventions and their protection for journalists in combat zones?" he asked, arms folded.

"Of course," Dee replied, her voice slightly muffled by her helmet.

"Then I hope you are aware that as soon as we step off this world, and probably before we step off this world, they are worth precisely fuck all."

She gulped as he continued. "You're not officially supposed to have weapons, so I can't give you any now. Once we're offworld, you'll be armed. Have either of you shot a gun before?"

"I've spent some time at the range," Dee replied. "One of my boyfriends was a gun nut."

"I've gone hunting once. I hated it."

"Well, you're gonna learn fast. Just don't blow anyone's head off." He paused. He wanted to give them guns about as much as he didn't- on one hand, they'd be defenceless, on the other, they might shoot one of his men. "One more thing. A lot of the soldiers are gonna be-"

"Hey Lieutenant! How come the reporters get brand new Mark Fives and we're stuck with shitty old Interceptors?"

"Well, I have some business to take care of," the Lieutenant finished. He tipped his hat. "Good day to you, ladies."

**Vegonbrei**

"Colonel Carter, Vala Mal Doran." Dr. Reimer greeted as he emerged from the gate with the rest of the medical team behind him. "I understand you've got a bit of a medical mystery on your hands."

"What we have is a village full of skeletons," Vala told him. She whispered to Daniel- or at least attempted to, the chatter was carried across the entire comm net, "Kind of like that holiday, Halloween."

"No, not really, because they're not real skeletons on Halloween!"

"Semantics." Daniel sighed.

"We've found a few lying on the ground, but most seem to have died in their beds," Carter elaborated, ignoring the banter. "I think we can rule out violence."

"Anything left besides bones?"

"Sorry, but no. Whatever happened here happened a long time ago." Carter motioned for them to follow and began walking toward where they had set up a base of operations.

"Right, well, whatever killed these people might still be around," Reimer mentioned nervously.

"Our CBRN seals are still intact," Carter assured him. "If there's still a pathogen here that can through our suits, we have bigger problems to worry about." Standard protocol was orbital nuclear bombardment.

"Okay... did you use your jump jets at all?"

"No, we didn't want to frighten anyone. I guess we didn't have to worry about that." She stopped in front of the door to what was once the village archives. "In here."

Letting the medical team set up their equipment near the entrance, she headed back towards where the books were kept. Daniel was among them, taking notes from books and parchment. Teal'c was standing beside him. He gave her a short nod and left to keep Vala out of trouble.

"So what have you got?" Sam asked, leaning against the table.

"Well, I haven't found any references to what happened here, but I did come across some of the ancient lore tied to the area. According to legend, a cave overlooking the village was once home to Morgan Le Fay."

"Morgan Le Fay," she echoed. "A sorceress, King Arthur's half-sister and Merlin's adversary. Think she had something to do with the disappearance of the weapon?"

"Maybe." Daniel deflected, theorizing, "Morgan, like Merlin, was a purported magic user, so it makes sense that again, like Merlin, she was once ascended, or at least an Ancient like Merlin." "One who realized the potential threat of a weapon designed to destroy ascended beings," Sam added, catching on. Daniel added, "So she took the weapon from Merlin and went into hiding..." "...on three possible worlds," Sam finished. "This is one of them."

"We've got to find that cave," Daniel said gravely.

"Already on it," she replied. "Teal'c, Vala, rendezvous with me outside. Daniel found something."

**AES _Thor_**

"ETA ninety seconds, sir."

Colonel- he liked the rank about as much as he liked his bitch of an ex- Jason S. Thornhill nodded. "Sound battle stations. Prepare for orbital insertion."

Immediately, klaxons began to blare. The ship had been in a readiness state for the past several hours, and only a few people had to rush to their stations. "Battle stations, battle stations, all hands to battle stations. Prepare for orbital insertion."

Colonel Thornhill knew that in the lower decks of the ship, a group of AESF soldiers- colloquially known as the "Helljumpers"- was making last-minute preparations for their drop. They were going in light, sending a small force largely composed of infantry down in A-3s. It would have been easier for everybody if they had gone to drop pods, but from what he heard, they still hadn't managed to make the system safe.

"Dropping out of hyperspace now, sir!" The Asgard combination of hyperdrive and inertial dampeners was smooth, and he felt no jolt at all as the large starship dropped back into realspace.

"Sir, two Ori frigates, vectoring to intercept and opening fire!"

"Return fire," Thornhill ordered. Their outdated ion cannons would do little against the Ori frigates, but it would at least keep them occupied. The Thor continued to arc toward Chulak, taking fire as it went. "Status report."

"Shields at eighty percent and dropping. Reaching drop point in 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... now! Drop craft are launching on insertion trajectory."

Thornhill nodded. He waited the agonizing wait as his ship continued to take fire from the two Ori frigates, now pursuing them as they orbited around the planet. He knew exactly how long it would take to complete an orbit- six minutes. That was how long the dropships would have to drop off their load, take off, and reach the recovery point.

"Reaching recovery point in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1! Drop craft are now coming aboard."

It was another agonizing wait, albeit a much shorter one. "All craft recovered successfully!"

"Get us out of here." It was a picture-perfect insertion, with zero losses. Now it would be up to the ground teams to continue the trend.

**Chulak**

Barrages of blue energy bolts lanced toward the AESF force as they dashed away from their landing zone. They had dropped behind the Ori lines, in a courtyard near the edge of Dakara, and immediately came under fire from entrenched Ori warriors. The Helljumpers returned fire and took whatever cover they could, waiting for more specific orders.

"Get your shit together, Captain!" Sergeant Kelly yelled, shaking his superior's shoulder. An energy bolt impacted Watkins' shields, bringing her out of her trance to a degree.

"Damn it!" she crouched down, taking cover behind what had probably once been a house. "Suppress those positions! Move up!"

Continuing to speak into her helmet, she shouted, "Alpha and Bravo squads, clear those buildings!"

Five hundred metres away, the first squads out slid against the protective cover of the semi-wrecked buildings the Ori were using as cover. One commander nodded to the other, and they stormed in.

At a distance, the Ori warriors had a chance, but up close, there was no comparison. The small, rapid firing weapons, backed up by hardened warriors with relentless assault training, tore through the ineffectively armoured Ori warriors. Their own staff weapons were powerful, but slow-firing and difficult to manoeuvre in tight quarters. It took only moments to clear the first two buildings.

"Move up, keep them suppressed! On me!" Her courage renewed, the Captain grabbed her rifle and took point, dashing toward the protective edge of the courtyard. She unhooked a grenade from her tactical vest and tossed it in a graceful arc through the window above her head. Bits of stone and bits of men flew out of the enlarged opening.

The incoming fire quickly died down as the freshly dropped task force eliminated the resistance in the area. Sergeant Kelly turned to his commander. "We're half a klick in. Only, what? Fifty-seven to go?"

"Yeah. Through hell and high water."

**Vegonbrei**

Sam briefly fired her jump jets, slowing herself down before gently landing on the ground. She heard the graceful landing of Teal'c and the not-so-graceful landing of Vala behind her. The jump jets in their Aegis Mark V suits made them more mobile- not able to fly, but to glide and jump over obstacles- but they were still getting used to using them.

She clicked on the flashlight attached to the end of her rifle, and the brilliant beams cut eerie swaths of light through the darkness. The walls were a slimy grey colour, the dirt nearly as drab. The cave was tall enough to stand up in, but not much taller, long and narrow.

"Why don't we just walk into the dark scary cave?" Vala mused darkly as they moved deeper into the system. "I just hope there isn't anything in here that's going to eat us."

"Nope, it's dead. Nothing here but microbes... and an energy signature." Sam slung her rifle and began examining a flat section of the cave wall. She pushed gently on the stone, and it moved inwards before a section of the wall simply disappeared.

"Let us see how deep the burrow of the rabbit goes," Teal'c quipped as they entered the hidden section of the cave. Sam gave him a look. "The Matrix."

"I'm pretty sure that's not the quote," Vala muttered from behind them.

In the village, Daniel was failing at carrying on a conversation with the other team. He had remained behind to study the fascinating volumes of the village archive. Not for the first time, he felt like an outsider. The other two doctors were actual medical doctors, and Lieutenant Ackerman had some kind of degree in biology.

"So, do you think that's what caused it?" Ackerman asked his colleagues. "That tiny little bug in the dirt?"

"Well, it's impossible to tell without running more tests, probably some involving live specimens, but right now, it's my best guess," Dr. Reimer told him.

"Whatever killed these people, it definitely did it to them in their sleep," Daniel interjected, staring into a large volume. "I was reading through when I found a reference to a 'sleeping sickness' that spread throughout the village. Of course, without an understanding of microbiology or germ theory, they blamed it on a curse. The curse of Morgan Le Fay, left behind after she left."

"A sleeping curse," Ackerman mused. "Hell of a way to go. Think the bitch actually did it?"

"Did what? Cursed them?" Daniel asked, still flipping through the tome.

"Maybe not a curse, but do you think she left a disease behind to wipe out these people?"

"Perhaps, maybe to cover her tracks." Daniel shrugged. "We don't know... oh, huh."

"What is it, Doctor Jackson?"

"Uh, there's nothing in detail, but it seems to imply that there might be more on-"

"On where? Do you have a gate address?"

"More that that. Atlantis."

"Atlantis?" Sam asked, pausing in the seemingly neverending passage. "You sure about that?"

"The reference is to a 'city beneath the waves', sounds like our city, doesn't it?" He paused. "Uh, how are you guys doing down there?"

Vala took that as her cue. "Absolutely horrible. We've been down here for ages and there's nothing here at all."

"Well, that's not exactly true," Sam corrected. "We found some kind of lizard down here. It's the first animal life I've seen on this planet.

"Either way, though, I think that if there was anything down here, it's long gone. Pack up, we're coming back. We're done here."

**January 5, 2005  
Pegasus  
Atlantis**

As soon as she had read the communique, General Weir immediately addressed the city.

"Ladies and gentlemen. This is Brigadier General Weir speaking. Earth is at war. I know that's been said in the past, but this time we are committed. The Ori have invaded the Milky Way and are taking over key worlds. I won't lie to you. The situation looks grim, worse than what we've faced before. Our attempts to stop their fleet have failed.

"I know everyone's been working as hard as they can, and I can't expect anyone to put in more than they can. I can only ask that you keep doing good work. However, our priorities have shifted. We are no longer a military, scientific, and humanitarian mission. We are now solely a military and diplomatic mission. This comes directly from the Stargate Council.

"Everything we do from this point forward is to, directly or indirectly, eliminate threats to Earth. Most of you will be doing much the same job you did before. Some of you may be asked to perform radically different tasks. I know some of you may not like this- hell, I don't like it- but please remember that our homeworld hangs in the balance. Thank you."

She clicked off the intercom and turned to Colonel Sheppard. "I suppose I should have been expecting that."

"Huge alien threat that we can't counter, fate of Earth hanging in the balance?" Sheppard replied lightly. "Doesn't really seem like a big change in MO."

"Seems our leaders have finally listened. We're committing, John." She handed him the printout. "Read."

He skimmed over the pages. "Holy shit. Two more OEFs, the Marines- and the Royal Marines-, the Russian Army... Hmm. Wish they could have gotten more spaceships."

"If we had them, I'm sure we'd be using them," Weir replied. "If you keep reading, you'll see they ramped up production. Wartime economy."

"Buy your war bonds?"

"Something like that." She paused, changing topics. She folded her arms. "Any news on the Wraith?"

John shook his head. "Nothing solid. The Travelers said the supergate activated and dumped another fleet into the galaxy. The Ori seem to be gaining ground, but..." He shrugged.

"We don't know."

"Yeah. We don't know. Everything we do know, we've heard secondhand. We don't actually have any SIGINT or monitoring assets."

Sheppard motioned towards Sora, who was conversing with some of the expedition members on the other side of the room. "Think our Genii friends have anything?"

Weir shook her head. "As far as I know, they're as much in the dark as we are."

"...in fact, that means we have to finish the gate bridge as soon as possible! We can't stop the project, we have to accelerate it. Two completely different things."

"Well, technically to stop an object you must apply a force, which produces acceleration-"

"You know what I mean! And I know you're real proud that you finally understand Newtonian dynamics, but I think everybody else has moved past-"

"Rodney!" Weir shouted, perhaps a little too loudly. Instantly, Zelenka and McKay stopped arguing.

"The gate bridge is a strategic asset that we need to bring personnel and supplies to Atlantis. Fast-track it and finish it as fast as you can."

"I got that," Rodney argued, climbing the staircase to the control room. "It's Zelenka here that doesn't."

"No, what I was merely pointing out was that other projects could take higher priority-"

"Which is also true." Weir turned to the Canadian scientist. "Have you finished all the theoretical work?"

"Well, yes, but there's still a lot of-"

"Then turn the project over to the engineers."

"Fine. I certainly hope they'll follow my recommendations of what makes a suitable world to take a spacegate from."

"Whatever isn't currently inhabited by anyone out of the Stone Age, and is closest," Sheppard told him. "The first criterion is flexible."

"What? But the potential effects on future development-" Rodney objected.

"I know," Weir told him. "I don't like it either. We're what- a few days in, and I'm already wondering what we're giving up... and if it's worth it."


	6. Engaged

**SGD 3x06 Engaged**

**January 13, 2005  
Coronado High School**

"Man, this is some fucked up shit," Dennis repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Yep," Jon replied. They had met... shit, it was two years now, wasn't it? They hadn't really bonded until the attack. Somehow, they had ended up together, surviving in the ruins of what had once been their school. It was then Dennis had realized that the weird kid from Montana wasn't so bad after all, and when Jon realized that normal people weren't so bad after all.

"We've been invaded by aliens-"

"Yep."

"And kicked their asses, against all odds-"

"Yep."

"And now we're fighting other aliens-"

"Yep."

"Are you even listening?"

"Nope."

"I can't believe this shit!"

Dennis would have continued, but the angry glare of their senior physics teacher silenced him. For the next fifteen minutes, they listened in silence as the teacher explained the relationship between centripetal force and the force of gravity between orbiting bodies. After that, he handed out worksheets, which Dennis spent the rest of the class failing to do and Jon spent the rest of the class doodling all over.

"Ever thought about joining up?" Jon asked suddenly, in the middle of a sandwich.

"Yeah, I guess." Dennis shrugged. "My uncle was a Marine. He told me stories of the Tet Offensive and the Viet Cong and all that shit. I think my answer is somewhere along the lines of 'hell no'. I'm not joining the damn army."

"So, Marines?" Jon smirked, like every time he was making a joke at someone else's expense.

"What? No! I just said I didn't!"

"Marines aren't the army, Dennis," Jon lectured, winking at a girl as she walked by. "There's a difference."

"You really wanna join the army? I mean, yeah, I know that it's the planet at stake- they've drilled that into us enough on TV and shit- but..."

There was an intensity in Jon's eyes that he hadn't seen since the attack, and it scared him. "But what?"

"It's the friggin' army!"

"Actually, I was thinking Air Force. _My_ uncle-"

"Yeah, I know. You've told me a thousand times. _Your_ uncle was some hotshot in the Air Force before he went black. All the awesome stories you've never heard because he'd have to kill you after."

"Eh, I don't think I'll be in this war anyway. SG-1 and the crew will have it done by the end of the year. Two years, tops. Don't believe what you see on TV."

Something that probably should have clicked ages ago clicked in Dennis' mind. He didn't know why, but it just did. "Wait, your uncle is-"

"Yeah, but don't go around telling everyone. Being related to someone famous isn't as awesome as you might think. I like to keep it on the down-low."

"Yeah, no shit."

**Chulak**

"What the hell happened to circling around and destroying the Ori from behind?" Major General Marion asked the battered drop trooper. His relatively fresh desert Marine Corps BDUs contrasted starkly with Captain Watkins' battered Aegis Mark V armour.

"We did, sir, or at least we tried," she replied, valiantly trying to keep her composure. "There were a lot more of them than we thought, and the Jaffa reinforcements never arrived. We broke through, sir, but there was nobody to come around and encircle the Ori."

She hesitated, and Mattis told her, "Tell me what you're thinking, Captain."

"Well, sir, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. It's not just an Ori group, or an Ori line. It's a whole goddamn army. It would take weapons of mass destruction to get rid of them. In my opinion, General, we should have gone after the ship-"

"Not my decision. Take it up with your Space Forces command."

"Yes, sir. That's what I was about to say."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Yes, sir. Where will you be deploying us?"

"Deploying?" Shit, he hadn't thought of that. He was overall commander of the Chulak mission- which meant the small group of drop troopers (he detested the term 'Helljumper') as well as his own Marines.

"Yes, sir. We'll need new weapons and ammo, and evacuating the wounded, but we're good on just about everything else."

"How many?"

"About thirty of us left, sir."

"That's not a lot to work with," the General mused.

She cracked a smile. "Believe me, sir, we can do a hell of a lot of damage."

"I'll have an answer within the hour. Dismissed."

"So this is what it feels like to be on an alien planet," Sergeant Tibbins said from beside Ray, his voice flat, unsure of what to think.

"I know," the Corporal replied, piloting the vehicle through the destroyed streets of the Jaffa city. "I was expecting a lot more, too. This place looks just like Iraq. Except for the trees and shit. That's totally Seattle."

"I can't wait to shoot aliens," said the Sergeant. "I wonder what happens when you shoot an Ori."

"Oh, great. This time it's my Sergeant who's a fucking psycho."

"Relax, Ray. I'm just screwing with you."

"You didn't see those kids Trombley shot," Ray muttered. He tried to think of something to say to the reporters in the back, but couldn't. He was sure they would find his pussies spiel offensive. And he wasn't quite hyped up enough to not care.

Let them enjoy their five minutes of wonderment before the world explodes around them.

**AES _Daedalus_**

Floating in the deep void between the two galaxies, the space station had an incredible view. Unfortunately, to enjoy that view, one would have to be on a ship already, since it was only a skeletal lattice. Suspended at each end was a stargate- at one end, a Milky Way gate, at the other, a Pegasus gate. In between was nothing but empty space.

"All systems appear to be normal, sir," Dr. Nadeem announced from his control console. "We are ready to begin the test."

"Sensor contacts?" Major Takahashi asked from the commander's chair. Recent personnel rearrangements left him in charge of the old (well, relative to the other ships) warhorse. He still wasn't sure what to think.

"Appears to be... clear, sir," the sensor officer, a Chinese Lieutenant named Chen, reported.

Chalking up the hesitation to a loose grasp of the common language that he himself sometimes had issues with, Takahashi turned to the Indian engineer and nodded. "We begin the test when you are ready, Doctor."

"Yes, begin the test. Signal Atlantis and tell them we are ready."

**Atlantis**

"Daedalus is signalling ready, Doctor."

Dr. Peter Grodin nodded. "Then let's get this show on the road. Dial the gate and upload the macro."

There was a delay of several seconds as the team uploaded the modified programming to the DHD and Stargate, then the telltale sequenced buzzing of the gate dialling. It shot its usual unstable vortex into the gateroom, then stabilized.

"Readings appear to be normal," he announced to nobody in particular. "Looks like we're good to go. Lieutenant Garcia, you are cleared for departure."

"Affirmative," replied a Spanish-accented voice, and seconds later a puddle jumper shot through the open wormhole.

**Midway**

Fifteen minutes later, although felt like an instant to Lieutenant Garcia, the spaceship emerged from the Pegasus-side gate, coming to a quick stop in the centre of the station. He immediately keyed the comm to the Daedalus. "This is Lieutenant Garcia. I have arrive and am ready to continue forward."

There was an uncomfortably long pause, then Takahashi's voice came through. "This is Daedalus, you may proceed when ready."

"Uploading macro and initiating dialling sequence."

**AES _Daedalus_**

They watched as the jumped emerged again, this time from the other side.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but we have to end this experiment now," Takahashi told the engineer. "We must find out what the unknown contact is."

"I understand," the Indian man replied, but certainly didn't look happy.

"Lieutenant Garcia, land on the Daedalus immediately," the Major ordered.

"Yes, sir. Would you mind if I asked why?"

"We've picked up an object moving at nearly the speed of light on sensors. We would like to find out what it is."

"Understood, sir. I am coming aboard with hasty." Inwardly, Takahashi cringed. Even he knew that was a brutal misuse of the English language.

"We must intercept the unknown and attempt a closer scan, a communication, or destroy it if necessary," Takahashi mused. "Pilot, what is our maximum sublight velocity?"

"Sixty percent the speed of light at absolute maximum."

"We will never catch them."

"Sir, we could use the hyperdrive," Nadeem suggested, motioning with his hands. "We will move ahead, like this, and continue at maximum sublight. Then, they will pass us, but it should give us time to scan or send communications."

"The jumper is aboard, sir."

Takahashi nodded at both comments. "This can work. Set a course and engage hyperdrive."

The Daedalus had a massively powerful FTL drive capable of ripping holes in the fabric of spacetime and pushing through the strange realm of hyperspace fast enough to move the ship between galaxies in a matter of days. That speed was not needed. It took longer to open a hyperspace window, go through, and exit on the other side than it did to actually travel the four light-minutes away they needed to move.

"All ahead flank," Takahashi ordered. "Everything we have."

"Aye, sir. All engines ahead flank."

"Picking up contact," Chen reported. "They should pass by in three... two... one... now!"

The actual flyby was less than impressive. There was a blink of _something_, and then the contact was gone.

"Interesting," the sensor officer reported. "If these reading are correct, what just passed us by was Aurora class battleship."

"Don't they have hyperdrives?"

"It is possible that it was damaged during the war with the Wraith," Nadeem theorized. "Perhaps it failed halfway through the journey, and they were forced to continue on sublight engines alone. With a ZPM as a power source, it may be possible to modify engines for that speed."

"Send off a databurst to Atlantis. We need to contact that ship. Make it stop."

"Major Takahashi, the ship is slowing down rapidly," Chen reported. Just after he finished his sentence, a hologram appeared at the front of the CIC. It was of a woman in what appeared to be Ancient clothing, similar to what they had seen on Asuras.

"Unknown vessel, I am Captain Helia of the Lantian warship _Tria_. Our ship has suffered damage. We've scanned your vessel and determined that it is capable of hyperspace travel. We've begun deceleration maneuvers. Will you render assistance in the form of hyperspace transport?"

**January 14, 2005  
Atlantis**

"They were battle scarred and already halfway to Earth when their hyperdrive finally gave out on them," Sheppard explained to Teyla and Weir. "I guess they decided it was better to keep going than to turn around and try to head back."

"How many survivors?" Weir asked.

"Just over a hundred."

Teyla smiled. "Word has already begun to spread amongst my people. They believe this return was foretold; that it marks the turning in the tide in the war against the Wraith. "

Weir shook her head ruefully as they entered the gateroom. "If only that were the biggest of our problems."

"General Weir?" Chuck called from the balcony above. "The _Daedalus_ is ready to beam down the Ancient delegation."

"Thank you. Give them the go-ahead."

In the characteristic bluish flash of light, the Asgard beaming system deposited five real live Ancients in the gateroom of the city they had once called their home.

Sheppard introduced them. "General Weir, Teyla, this is Helia, captain of the Ancient ship _Tria_."

Elizabeth bowed slightly and extended her hand, which Helia gingerly took. "It's an honour to finally meet you."

"Thank you, and from what I'm told, you've done a remarkable job preserving our city."

"Well, we did what we could with what we had. We've got some help from our friends."

Helia's smile dropped, and she turned darkly serious. "I need to speak to the leader of your people."

"I'm the leader of the Atlantis Expedition."

"You misunderstand me, General Weir. I need to talk to the one who can speak for _all_ the people of Earth."

She raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why?"

A narrow, blue-glowing pedestal rose out of the floor directly in front of Helia. Rodney McKay stared at it. "What? I've never seen that before-"

She gently pressed her hand to its top. /awkward Across the city, the Ancient systems powered down and disconnected from their Earth interfaces. "Thank you for all that you've done, Dr. Weir, but your guardianship of this city is no longer necessary. The city is now under my control."

In an instant, the gateroom guards had their weapons raised and aimed at the unarmed Ancient delegation. Weir folded her arms. "What did you just do?"

"We retook control of our city," Helia said simply. "We will allow you to remove yourselves and leave without conflict, of course."

"Excuse me?" Weir asked.

"I'm afraid we can't let that happen," Sheppard told the Ancient. Just because they built the city didn't give them a right to be assholes.

"Rodney, open a channel to the Daedalus. We need to contact Earth."

"We could activate the Stargate for you-"

Weir glared at Helia. "No thanks. I think it's clear at this point that we have very different goals in mind."

She turned to the guards. "Escort them to their rooms. Keep them out of trouble."

**Washington, D.C.**

"Then you tell them that there's no way in hell we're giving them that city," General Hammond repeated into his telephone. Routed through a network of subspace repeaters, the quality was acceptable, but there was a significant delay in the response. "I'm sorry. Orders are orders. The Stargate Council made their position very clear. You are to resolve the situation peacefully if possible, and if it is not possible, you are to retake Atlantis using any means necessary."

"Sir, these are real live Ancients! It is their city we're talking about."

"If I fell asleep at the wheel for ten thousand years and came back to claim Washington, would it really be my Washington anymore?" Hammond paused. "Besides, for all we know, these might be a splinter group of Ancients, political dissidents, you name it."

"If I may ask, sir, is that your opinion or the one of the Stargate Council."

He sighed. "Look, I realize how delicate a situation this is. Ultimately, if they want the city, there may be nothing we can do to stop them. But we are at war. That city is our staging point for all forces in Pegasus. We've got two armoured divisions in the city and half a fleet being repaired on the piers. We give up Atlantis, we give up our presence in the Pegasus Galaxy."

"And you don't think the Ancients could take our place?"

"Do you?" The question was simple, but an answer in and of itself. The crew of the Tria was just over a hundred strong. Their only ship was stranded between galaxies- even if they could get a tow from the Asgard, it was crippled. They had no real ground forces at all. The best they could do is bunker down and try to stay alive.

"No, sir, I do not."

"Then you know what your orders are. Take back control of Atlantis using any means necessary."

Hammond's voice softened. "Try to let them down easy. Maybe offer them a place on the expedition, or give them the other city. Get the Asgard to help. It would be best for all of us if we stayed in each others good books."

"Thank you, General." The line clicked off.

**Atlantis**

The guard left as she entered the room. She found it insulting that the humans found it necessary to do such a thing. Just as insulting were the telltale markings that the door had been pried open after she locked out the city's controls. She assumed they had already fixed that, judging by the lack of pried-open doors on her way in. That was a minor system. Getting major systems like the shields back online would be another matter.

"Captain Helia," General Weir greeted from the head of the table. "Please, sit down."

She introduced the rest of the table in order. The first was a man with messy hair and a few days of stubble, wearing a similar uniform to Weir's, but with different insignia. "This is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, second in overall command and military commander of the city."

The next person was a woman in a much different uniform, this one green and brown. "Sora Tyrus of the Genii, one of our allies in the Pegasus galaxy."

"Teyla Emmagan of the Athosians. They were the first people we met when we arrived in this galaxy." Teyla was a tan-skinned woman wearing what looked like a crude version of clothing worn by the... Athosians? She didn't recognize the name, but recognized the style. The must have called themselves something else when she left.

After her was a dark-skinned woman in a tight black leather tunic, leggings, and long boots. "This is Katana Labrea of the Travelers. Another people we met and allied with here. They live aboard ships to escape from the Wraith. One of them is an Aurora they managed to salvage."

The last figure caused her to gasp in surprise. "Kvasir, leader of the Asgard contingent on Atlantis."

Weir clasped her hands on the table. "I hate to rush things, but I'm going to be blunt about this. Every second we waste here could put this city at risk. These are our allies. We are at war."

"With the Wraith?" Helia immediately asked.

"We _were_ at war with the Wraith," Sheppard told her. "Now, funny enough, they're the only thing between us and the real enemy."

"How much do you know about your people's history?" Weir asked. "Specifically, your early history."

"How is that pertinent to this discussion?" Helia responded, keeping her voice level.

"We're fighting a war against the Ori."

**January 15, 2005**

**Washington, D.C.**

Smoke puffed in wispy tufts from the end of President Hayes' cigarette. "So we've managed to come to an agreement with these Ancients?"

"Yes, sir," General Hammond told the President- and the rest of the Stargate Council. "Once they understood what we were up against, Captain Helia and her group were a lot more cooperative. I suspect the presence of the Asgard helped in that regard."

"What kind of treaty did Doc- I mean, _Brigadier General_ Weir broker with these Ancients?" the Prime Minister of Australia queried.

"First of all, we gave them Aquarius, and the supplies, equipment, and personnel to repair it. We've given them near-complete access to Atlantis, as well as input into any decisions that affect the city. They will also receive an ambassadorial position on Earth."

"And what did we get in return?"

"They've promised not to lock out the city again, and have pledged to assist in understanding the Ancient database."

"If I am understanding this correctly, we didn't get a lot in return, not even technology."

"I think the opportunity to interact with living Ancients is worth the cost in and of itself, sir," Hammond defended, but he knew the Prime Minister had a point. They were giving the Ancients a lot and not getting a hell of a lot out of it.

"I hope there is a contingency plan," Shen Xiaoyi voiced.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Hammond feinted. He knew damn good and well what she meant.

"To... remove the Ancients should they decide it would be in their best interests to break the terms of the agreement."

"I do not believe that such a plan is necessary."

"This board does. Make one."

"Yes, ma'am." He wasn't in the mood to argue, nor did he have much of a choice in the matter. He reported to the Stargate Council, not the other way around. Feeling that the subject was over and done with, he changed topics. "Two days ago, the First MEF deployed to Chulak. This morning, we received word that they have engaged the enemy-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the Japanese representative asked, "How are they doing?"

"Given the circumstances, remarkably well," the General replied cautiously. "Casualties have been light so far, and the Marines have secured the gate and are holding position alongside the Jaffa."

"And the rest of our ground forces?"

"Units that have been delegated to deploying offworld are preparing to deploy as soon as possible. Units that have been delegated to reserve status are on a forty-eight hour alert notice."

"What about the Ori, General Hammond?" Hayes asked, putting down his cigarette for the moment. "Have they invaded any more planets?"

He nodded gravely. "Unfortunately, yes. We've lost contact with Vyus, and Orban has informed us they are under attack. The Ori are still coming through that Supergate."

"Then we need to close off that avenue of attack."

"Our best minds are working on it, sir."

"Make it happen. Earth is next."


	7. The Pegasus Project

**SGD 3x07 The Pegasus Project**

**February 5, 2005  
Chulak**

The phrase "War is Hell" didn't have the same impact until one had actually experienced it.

"It's now Day 35 of the Ori War," Dee shouted over the din of gunfire, energy weapons, and screams. "We've been on Chulak for nearly a month now. We've lost or destroyed all our camera equipment, what you're seeing is a feed from Tina's suit camera-"

The camerawoman raised her M4 carbine and put an awkward burst through an Ori warrior that had almost made it past the rubble-reinforced dirt berm that they were entrenched behind. Dee continued, unfazed- it had happened too many times for her to count. There was already a nasty melted patch in her armour that constantly reminded her not to stay in the open for too long. "As you can see, we're right in the thick of it. I can't say exactly where we are due to security reasons, but we're on the defensive and we're slowly being pushed-"

"Showtime's over!" a gruff voice shouted. Sergeant Sullivan shook the camerawoman on her shoulder. "We're pulling back! There's no way we can hold this position any longer!"

"Sergeant, didn't we just pull back a few hours ago?" Tina asked, yelling over the deep boom of tube artillery.

"Yep. We're pulling back again. You're going first-" The Sergeant was roughly cut off by a staff blast that had zipped over the top of the field-expedient fortification and into his head. The scene was gruesome. He dropped instantly to the ground, his face a mangled mess of seared flesh and exposed bone.

"Sergeant! Shit!" a Marine beside them shouted, dropping his gun and kneeling beside the man.

The heavily armored form of an AESF drop trooper landed beside them, firing her machine gun at the rapidly oncoming Ori forces. "He's dead, goddamn it! Get them the fuck out of here!"

Another two ODSTs dropped down as the Marine force began to retreat. Ahead of them, the first 155mm shells began to land, halting the Ori advance- at least temporarily.

**SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Is it really that bad, sir?" Colonel Reynolds asked his commanding officer as the broadcast ended.

General O'Neill shook his head. "No. It's worse."

"How can it be worse?" Reynolds asked.

"Fifty kilometres. Fifty kilometres between the Ori and the 'gate. They've already taken key positions in the city and publicly executed thousands of people. The Free Jaffa- the 'never give up, I die free' Free Jaffa- are now evacuating the planet. They're fortifying Dakara- Bra'tac told me that they think it's going to be their last stand."

"What about our troops? I don't mean to marginalize the-"

O'Neill held up a hand. "I know, Albert, I know. The Marines are dropping like flies. They aren't trained for this, equipped for this- fuck. Hundreds of casualties. That fire mission was the last one- we're pulling out the Paladins."

"Where the hell are they coming from, sir?"

"Hell if I know! Maybe they're cloning them aboard those motherships, maybe they've got a gate, maybe they're sending in supply ships."

Colonel Reynolds leaned back in his chair. "General- Jack, this doesn't make any fucking sense. The Ori have complete space supremacy and damn near control of the skies, too. They could wipe our forces out in a couple of seconds flat. Why waste so many men and so much equipment."

The General paused for a moment, his finger tracing circles on the table. "Terror. They're not fighting a war of destruction. They're fighting a war of terror. They're not trying to wipe us out. They're trying to get us to convert."

"Jesus Christ," Reynolds breathed.

"The Ori want more followers, that's why they're going on this space-Jihad. Blasting our guys to pieces from orbit would only piss us off. Killing a couple thousand Marines in front of civilians, or a couple thousand civilians in front of Marines, they're trying to put the fear of God into us. Break down our will to fight. And while they're at it, suck up _our_ resources too."

"Fuck. And the other planets, sir?"

"Hebridan doesn't have much of a military, and they're being hit hard. We've deployed there- from what I've heard, it's one hundred percent hellish fighting in the streets of the future. Langara's giving them a hell of a fight, and yes, the Kelownans have dropped the bomb. So have the Rand and the Caledonians. At this point, it's their only option."

"Hebridan- that's where we're headed, right?"

General O'Neill nodded. "Yep, if they ever approve the mission. I guess they want to see how the Pegasus Project goes first."

* * *

**Atlantis**

One by one, the four current members of SG-1 came through the stargate, their strides confident and powerful. Behind them were several crates of supplies- no sense wasting the power-consuming activation- but it was the flagship team that the party in the gateroom greeted.

Colonel Carter didn't salute Weir- she had made her preference clearly known the last time they had met. Still, she came to attention. "Ma'am."

She nodded politely before motioning them to follow. "Welcome to Atlantis, SG-1. Usually there would be more formalities, but the current situation dictates otherwise. I understand you're hoping to find an anti-Ori weapon, or at least some clues, here."

"That's right," Daniel replied. "I found a reference to the city in Vegonbrei's archives. And now that there are real living Ancients here, we can go right to the source."

"Captain Helia and her crew left before Merlin and Morgan Le Fay did," she cautioned. Seeing the dour look on Daniel's face, she added, "Of course, they still might have something to offer."

Along with the familiar faces of Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan and Dr. Rodney McKay, there were three _un_familiar faces at the conference table. One was a light-haired woman with a brown-trimmed green uniform. Daniel immediately recognized her from the files as Sora Tyrus of the Genii. The second he could tell was a traveller, but the dark-haired woman wasn't familiar to him. The last person caused the breath to hitch in his throat for just a moment, even though he was already prepared. An Ancient.

"Colonel Carter, Doctor Jackson, Vala, Teal'c. This is Sora of the Genii and Katana Labrea of the Travelers." Weir introduced before sitting down. "And this is Luthan of the Lanteans."

"It's an honour to meet you," Daniel greeted, offering him a slight bow.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine," Luthan replied with a smile. "I never thought I would meet the humans of Earth in person, not after you had advanced so far. I do admit I would have preferred less desperate circumstance."

"I think we all would," Weir agreed. "Colonel Carter?"

The Colonel slipped a small device into the holoprojector in the middle of the table, and it immediately lit up with a map of the Milky Way galaxy. "Since the initial Ori invasion, the Supergate has activated only once again. Currently, there are somewhere between six and thirteen Ori motherships active in the Milky Way, along with their escorts. That's already more than we can handle. As you may know, we put our best minds to work, and this is what we came up with."

The view switched to a close-up diagram of the Supergate. "Our initial thought, and this is what we tried just before the invasion, was to simply dial out before the Ori could dial in. We thought we had a control crystal programmed correctly, and we thought we knew where to install it. It didn't work.

"It turns out the Ori supergate controller uses a complex error-correcting and hash signing algorithm to ensure that nobody could do what we tried to do. We still don't know exactly how it works, and brute-forcing the encryption would take our computers millions of years to complete even if we did."

"Actually, only thousands, with my improved algorithm," Rodney McKay interrupted smugly.

"That would still be far too long. Instead of trying to dial out, why not just dial in?" Sheppard asked, emphasizing with hand motions.

"I'm sure they would have tried that," Rodney countered. "Even without any sort of protection, there's no way it would work. It's exponentially proportional to size, which means the energy required to create a connection with a Supergate would far exceed that of an ordinary gate. It'd be like putting together a Saint Bernard and a Chihuahua."

"And the problem with that would be?" Vala asked, completely missing the reference. Teyla, Sora, and Katana looked equally confused. Luthan smiled, amused at the bickering of the humans.

"Oh, I see. You're, um, mocking me, aren't you?" Rodney spat back.

"What? Um, no, I'm not from Earth. I honestly didn't get the reference."

"Actually, Colonel Sheppard isn't far off," Carter explained, eager to redirect the discussion. "We are introducing another Stargate into the equation."

The hologram zoomed out, revealing a second, standard stargate beside the Supergate. "If we can make a connection between that gate and one from the Pegasus galaxy-"

"Aha. Knew it. You're going to make a jump." Seeing the glares from half the other people in the room, Rodney defended, "Don't shoot me, you know I can't help myself!"

"We've done it before," Carter continued. "Stargate Command inadvertently dialed the gate address of a planet that was on a collision course with a black hole, P3W-451. The only way to disconnect before Cheyenne Mountain got swallowed up was to set off a shaped charge right at the event horizon."

"Oh, no, that is a whole different ballgame," Rodney interjected. "Hello? We're talking about jumping a normal-sized, plain vanilla stargate to an Ori Supergate. That is nowhere near the same-"

"I know, McKay."

"And you'll need a sufficiently large nuclear device, and- and a dialling crystal capable of intergalactic dialling, and if you want to keep it open for longer than-"

"A black hole," Carter cut off, exasperated. "I know, McKay. We've planned this thoroughly. We're as ready as we'll ever be."

"I am just saying, the yield calculations can be extremely tricky, if not borderline impossible," Rodney defended. He added smugly. "You may need me."

"John, do you think you could spare Rodney from your team?" Weir asked the Colonel.

Sheppard waved her off. "Hell, you can keep him."

"Colonels, General," Luthan interrupted. "If I may, I would like to join this mission."

"For what reason, Luthan?" Weir asked politely.

"Call it intellectual curiosity."

"All right. I was under the impression that you were going to assist Doctor Jackson with his search of Atlantis' databanks."

Luthan shook his head. "I was, yes, but this is far more interesting considering my field of study. Linna will doubtfully be far more helpful in any case. If I express how important this mission is to the war, I'm sure Helia will release her as well."

"All right," Weir agreed, standing up. "Make it happen."

* * *

Linna turned out to be a tall, slim woman with a more than slightly condescending attitude towards humans. Daniel was sure it wasn't intentional- Linna had apologized and explained that she hadn't had much contact with humans.

"I liked the other one better," Vala whispered, summing up Daniel's feelings in one short phrase. He sharply nodded agreement.

"I did run the search you asked for- Castiana and Sahal," Linna told them. "I checked the Atlantis database, the... Aquarius database, and the Tria's database. There were no matches, as expected."

"Did you get the spelling right?" Vala asked.

"Vala, it's not that simple-"

"Of course. I'm the ship's historian, I'm well aware of the concept of linguistic drift. After this much time, with different influences, there may be none of the root word left. You didn't really expect any references in the database, did you?"

"No, but I figured it was at least worth a shot," Daniel replied. "Still, we know there's something within the Atlantis library."

"Then let us start by consulting an old friend." Linna lead Vala and Daniel down the staircase, away from the gateroom and toward what Daniel vaguely remembered was one of Atlantis' holorooms.

They stepped inside the mostly circular room, and Linna brought up a hologram of another Ancient using a control pedestal in the middle of the room. "Hello. You may enter your query verbally, or by entering it manually on the console before you."

"This is a learning program used to teach our children the Lantean systems. It consumes power, and she is a bit... patronizing, but it may be the best option for a first-time user."

"Uh, thank you?" Vala said rudely. Daniel glared at her.

He faced the hologram. "Uh, I'll speak, if that's all right."

"Of course. But note for future sessions, manual input is required for most system interaction."

"I think I had her in Grade 5," Daniel wryly noted. Linna shot him a funny look. He turned his attention back to the hologram. "All right, could you display a map of the Avalon galaxy?"

"Certainly." A shimmering, slowly rotating field of stars appeared above them. Linna pinched the bridge of her nose and began pacing impatiently.

Daniel traced the patterns. "Okay, that's Earth... and that is Taonas."

"Praclarush Taonas was one of the earliest Lantian cities," the hologram recited. "It was abandoned when the inhabitants learned their sun was nearing the end of its life-"

"Yes, thank you, I know. I've been there," the archaeologist replied wryly. "Okay, um, show me the order in which the earliest Ancient cities were founded."

"How is that useful?" Vala asked impatiently. "You going to join up all the dots and draw a pretty picture?"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Vala," Linna added. "What you are doing will bring us nowhere closer to our goal."

"I'm just getting my bearings," Daniel defended. "In all honesty, this could take a while."

Feigning excitement, Vala cheered, "The way you approach things, it could take _the rest of our lives_!"

"Sorry, but we're not going to find the location of this thing by looking under 'W' for 'Weapon'!"

"'P' for 'Planet,' then? I'm just saying, ask the question!" Vala insisted.

"There is absolutely no way that what you are suggesting would work-" Linna retorted.

"It would take all of _eleven seconds_!"

Daniel sighed in frustration, gripping the pedestal with a white-knuckled grip. "Hello. We're looking for the names of two planets, known on Earth in ancient times in the dialect of Old English as Castiana and Sahal."

"Satisfied?" he asked the former space pirate. Before either of them could say anything more, the hologram spoke up.

"Taoth Vaclarush and Valos Cor." A pair of planets were highlighted, and their addresses displayed next to them.

"Now, I am satisfied."

Behind them, Linna managed to close her jaw and partially regain her composure. "How did that happen? There is no remnant of either word left... I- the Atlantis computer can translate in real time- but- no- it _can't_ compensate for 8000 years of linguistic drift like that!"

Vala raised her hands. "Okay, well, she gave us the names of the planets. She even gave us the addresses, which means we could be out there somewhere overlooking Atlantis, toasting with exotic beverages!"

Daniel slowly shook his head. "No, Linna's right. It shouldn't have worked. There's something else going on."

"Of course there's something else going on. The program won't work like that- can't work like that- doesn't work like that! I've seen the source code."

"Any ideas?"

There was a pregnant pause. "No."

He turned back to the hologram. "Is there an archival visual record of the Lantean citizens who fled to Earth?"

"There is," the hologram replied.

"Display them for me. One at a time."

* * *

**AES _Daedalus_**

"Gate telemetry checks out," Carter announced. "Stabilizing thrusters are on line, and power is well into the green. We're good to go."

"Where is Rodney McKay?" Teal'c asked.

"I'm here!" the scientist announced animatedly. "One of your crew wouldn't let me finish my sandwich in the corridor."

"I apologize sincerely," Takahashi said. The rest of the bridge crew stifled their laughter at the obvious sarcasm that passed right over the scientist's head.

Muttering something about 'Japanese honour', he manipulated the controls in his tablet. "Okay, yeah, looks like we're good to go. Have you, uh, dialled the gate?"

"I've already sent the remote dial command," Carter told him. "It's just going to take a while because of time dilation."

Rodney checked his watch, and counted exactly 5.47 seconds before the stargate activated. "Ah, just in time."

Colonel Carter keyed the comm system. "Tango Mike One, this is Daedalus, do you read, over?"

"This is Tango Mike One-Actual. Reading you loud and clear, Sam," the familiar voice of Jacob Carter replied after a short delay. "The secondary gate is in position and we have seen no sign, repeat _no_ sign of Ori activity. We are currently holding position at a safe distance from the gate and are ready to begin monitoring from this end, out."

"Okay, prepare to deploy the first device," Rodney ordered. He glared at Carter. "And let's just hope that extra five percent doesn't obliterate the stargate."

Luthan watched the exchange with interest. He had come to observe the physics and engineering aspects of the endeavour, but found himself captivated by their social interaction more than anything. The stark contrast between cold military procedure and animated exclamation both excited and frightened him.

"Tango Mike One, prepare for detonation flash," Carter told her father on the other end.

"All stations, prepare for detonation flash!" Takahashi ordered. In a split second, the viewing window on the bridge darkened, and just in case, the crew turned their backs to the window.

"Deploy the device," Carter ordered. On her command, a small nuclear warhead appeared in front of the stargate. Seconds later, a massively intense pulse of light and hard radiation struck their sensors, blinding their sensors. Nearly half a minute later, it dissipated enough for them to resume communications.

"-like it didn't work, Sam," came a crackly reply. "Repeat, negative on the diversion. The secondary gate is still active, over."

Carter shook her head. "Okay, let's try again. Two nukes this time."

"That was, uh, my idea, by the way," McKay interjected, though nobody was listening. "See, if we increase the duration, we hopefully won't- nevermind. Just get on with it."

"All right, we're going to try again with two nukes this time," Sam told her father. "Make sure you keep a good safe distance. There's a chance we could vaporize both gates if we get this wrong."

"It's like five percent, maybe seven-" Rodney began, but was cut off.

"It is wise to be careful," Luthan interrupted. "When we experimented with the Astria Porta, we found them unpredictable. Some were destroyed more easily than others and with much more dramatic consequences."

"Great. So we have quality control issues too," Rodney muttered.

"Coordinates are set. Beaming the warheads in five, four, three, two, one, mark."

There was another colossal flash, this one longer than the first, and it took almost twice as long for communications to come back up.

"Still no dice," Jacob's voice told them. "Repeat, the secondary gate is still connected. However, there was a transfer of energy between the- wait. Damn it, I'm picking up an Ori ship heading toward us. Look, if you're going to do something, do it fast, because they're going to be here within minutes."

* * *

**Atlantis**

"Doctor Weir, you need to see this," Zelenka told her as soon as she stepped into the control room, practically dragging her over to the sensor readout. "We've detected a hive-ship on long-range sensors-"

"Are they headed toward us?"

"No, the _Daedalus_. They're headed toward the black hole-"

Elizabeth was already moving. "Can you send a message to the Daedalus?"

"No, the black hole is interfering with our communications," the technician informed her. "However, Stargate Command might be able to relay a message through the Tok'ra."

"Do it. Dial the gate and send this message: Have detected Wraith ship approaching _Daedalus_ coordinates in Pegasus." Cannot relay warning directly because of interference. Advise _Daedalus_ commander of danger upon receipt of this message."

Linna tried to keep her emotions under control as she watched the people- her people- shimmered by. Some of them she knew well. Adalyx, who lost two sons to the Wraith. Didthura, who would constantly repeat that it was their fault the Wraith were a problem and their fault they were losing. Trebal, bitter at becoming the Aurora's first officer after her prospective command was destroyed in port.

She crumpled to the floor, the voices of Daniel and Vala seemingly lightyears away. Those were her people. Now, the holograms were all that was left. Some of them might have ascended, but they were gone. Her people were gone. The Ancients were no longer, no matter how much they wished to bring back their past glory. They were living on a damaged copy of a city-ship, for all intents and purposes standing underneath humanity. It was the humans taking on the responsibility of protecting the galaxy.

"I take that back - we know him!" Vala nearly shouted.

The hologram of Ganos Lal shimmered into existence and stepped out beside the still hologram of the bald man. "Moros was the last High Councillor of Atlantis."

Vala tried the name. "Moros. Well, apart from the funny hat, he's the spitting image of Merlin, isn't he?"

"See, in Arthur's time, that was Myrrdin," Daniel explained. "You see how a word can change over the centuries."

"I know where you're going," Vala theorized. "You think the Merlin or Myrrdin or whatever his name was, came back to Atlantis at some stage and hid these names here as clues for us to find."

"No."

"No?"

"The first human to set foot within the city after it was abandoned was Doctor Elizabeth Weir, leader of the current Atlantis expedition," the hologram told them helpfully.

"Are you sure of that?" Vala asked.

"Evidence of his presence would have been recorded."

Vala slapped Daniel on the arm. Happily, she exclaimed, "Well, darling, I guess that's it! We'll have to leave here with exactly that which we came here for."

"No, I already knew Merlin was in the archive. I was looking for someone else," Daniel replied absentmindedly. He turned back to the hologram.

"You chose your words very carefully when you said 'the first human to set foot in the city.' What about Ascended Being?" The 'hologram' hesitated, and he pressed further. "You're not really a hologram, are you?"

She turned to lock eyes with Daniel. "You have your answer, Daniel Jackson. I suggest you act on it."

Then she fizzled away, leaving the two humans and one Ancient alone in the room.

* * *

**AES _Daedalus_**

"Sir, detecting a Wraith hive-ship, closing, bearing one-eight-one zero-four-zero, closing fast!"

"Shields to maximum!" Takahashi ordered. "Sound battle stations!"

"Sir, shields are only operating at twenty percent efficiency due to the black hole."

"Move us away-" The starship shuddered as a Wraith energy bolt struck its shields. "All ahead flank. Get us away!"

"No, you know what, we need to do the opposite!" Carter told them.

"What?" McKay stammered.

She turned to him. "Against a gravity well this strong, they've literally got the higher ground. But if we can get them to follow us closer to the black hole…"

"Then their systems will be affected the same way as ours, including their jamming technology."

"Which means we should be able to beam the warheads directly aboard their ship," Carter finished. She turned back to the commander. "We'll have to slingshot around. Hopefully, they'll chase us and we'll be able to beam the nukes aboard as they pass the stargate."

"Do it," the commander ordered without hesitation. "Full power."

As they increased velocity, streaking toward the event horizon of the black hole, she activated the comm system. "Dad, it's Sam. We're about to try something that will probably vaporize the Stargate at both ends. You've got exactly twenty seconds to get your hyperdrive on line and get out of there."

"Picking up the Wraith ship, it's really chasing us!" McKay nearly shouted. "Okay, okay- Wraith ship's in position! Beam the warheads! Go!"

"Beaming warheads now!" Seconds later, a pair of nuclear detonations obliterated the behemoth from the inside out, the massive gravity-distorted explosion completely engulfing the still-active stargate.

**Tok'ra Tel'tak**

Jacob watched through the darkened windscreen as the energy from the detonation streamed through the secondary gate, the stream impacting on the shields of the Ori ship cruising above the Supergate. The Supergate itself crackled with energy as the wormhole began its jump, quickly activating and forming its massive event horizon.

The Ori battleship was still directly over the centre of the Supergate when it activated. Its immensely strong shields did nothing against the destructive force of the unstable vortex. Within seconds, the aft end of the ship was completely vaporized. The front half continued on its momentum before secondary explosions from failing systems began tearing it apart, the leviathan quickly consumed by the extremely powerful reactor that once provided the means for its protection.

"Daedalus, this is Tango Mike One," Jacob stated as calm as he could. "Uh, whatever you did, it worked. The jump was successful and the Supergate is now active, over."

The excited voice of Rodney McKay came over the radio. "Wait, what? Are you serious?"

"Not just that. We kept the stargate cloaked as long as we could and lured the Ori ship in front of the event horizon. I am happy to report that one Ori battleship is now permanently out of commission thanks to the unstable vortex."

"You mean we just blew up an Ori ship-" Sam began.

"-by destroying a Wraith ship!" Rodney finished.

"Yeah, we did. I think it's fair to say we've done pretty damn good today."


	8. Desperate Times (Part 1)

**SGD 3x08 Desperate Times (Part 1)**

This episode is kind of a clip show. I'm finding it very difficult to get back into gear after such a long hiatus. I'm also not feeling that great right now, and I have some things coming up IRL, so apologies in advance for low word count and quality.

* * *

**February 21, 2005  
SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Orders just came in." The Marine plunked himself down on the table. "Looks like we're being deployed again."

"Are you fucking kidding me, man? We just came back about a week ago!" shouted the Marine beside him, a Corporal.

"That's _Sergeant_ to you now," he corrected, but his voice lacked its former edge. Like the rest of his group, Sergeant Wilson was tired. He'd watched half of his unit, including his platoon and squad leaders, die.

"Why can't they cycle some fresh units through? You know, instead of sending us back into hell again?"

"They are," their gunner, Parsons, added. He deftly stripped the gas piston out of his M249, wiping it down with an oily rag. "Just to other places."

"Why can't the fuckin' Russians and the Chinks and every other fucking nation on the planet pull their own damn weight?" the snarky Corporal moaned.

"They're trying. Politics are a fickle bitch." A short-haired woman in poorly-fitting fatigues joined them at the folding table.

"What's the scuttlebut, reporter?"

Dee shrugged. "We're pulling out of Iraq. It's not official yet, but that's what the rumours are saying. We can't afford to be there anymore, for better or for worse."

"It's about time the politicians figure out how pointless that was," the Sergeant muttered darkly. He looked to the reporter. "So, have you decided yet?"

She tented her hands, exhaling deeply. "It's not easy. I haven't been shot at before, and it didn't feel good. I watched people die, some of them I killed myself. It was hell.

"But I felt something, I felt... alive, you know. And this is one of the most important events in human history. I want to be a part of that."

Wilson nodded sagely. "And Tina?"

"You know that if I'll go, she'll follow. Hell, she's the one pushing me this time." She chuckled nervously.

"So, do you know where we're going?" the machinegunner asked.

"Hebridan."

* * *

**P8K-939**

"So this is where we stand."

Oshu paced back and forth in his room at the top of the Jade Palace. Since the so-called election the previous year, he was de facto Emperor.

"Our industrial capacity was damaged before the war even began," his advisor told him. "For centuries, our factories have decayed."

"And the military was destroyed from the inside out by the madness of Emperor Yu," Oshu added bitterly. "With every day that passes, the Ori continue to destroy our outer worlds. It is only a matter of time before they press the attack and lay siege to the core of the empire."

"Surely our Tau'ri allies will-"

He cut the other Jaffa off, shaking his head. "No. They are occupied with their own war."

"Well, what do you suggest? Employing horrifying, dishonourable weapons? Abandoning our own technology for that of inferiors? Allowing our women to fight?"

"If it is necessary," Oshu told him, sipping a more than slightly alcoholic drink. "It served the Tau'ri well, did it not?"

"Our situation is-"

"Not so different. We stand facing a seemingly insurmountable foe. We are armed only with inferior weapons, shaky alliances, an an iron will." He took another sip. "The winds of change still blow strong. We must adapt to survive."

"Are you suggesting we abandon who we are?"

"No, doing so would only grant the Ori a victory without cost." Another sip. "We must enhance our strength and counter our weaknesses. We will _not_ simply give up."

* * *

**Tok'ra Colony**

"I thought we had prepared for this!" Garshaw of Belote shouted at another Tok'ra as he came into view. They were surrounded by their brethren running to get into defensive positions, all armed.

The tunnels reverberated as a fierce battle raged both inside and above them. Secrecy hadn't worked. The Ori had found them and were dead set on flushing them out. They would make them pay hard, but they were fighting a losing battle.

"So did I," Selmak retorted, catching her off guard. "We should have known secrecy would not work. We took every precaution, yet somehow our location was discovered."

Only hours earlier, Ori forces began arriving en masse, at first ringing down from frigates in orbit. They very quickly crushed the limited defences the Tok'ra had erected and captured the Chappa'ai, cutting them off from reinforcements and escape. After that, the Ori moved in for the kill.

"We cannot keep this up," Garshaw told him, though she was sure the elder Tok'ra already knew. "Our brothers and sisters are dying. We are making them pay dearly, but they will win this war of attrition."

"Then maybe we should ask for help." It was Jacob Carter, the Tau'ri, this time. "You know I can contact Earth via subspace radio."

"Will they send help?" Garshaw asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jacob shrugged- a very human gesture. "They're not going to reinforce the Ori."

"And if the signal is getting detected?" she asked. That was the primary reason why they had held off on contacting Earth or any other planet earlier. Institutional paranoia.

"At this point, does it really matter anymore?"

Garshaw paused, and he quickly continued. "Look, it was pride that got us here in the first place. We tried severing ties, but we're in the middle of a war here. We've got to work together, even if that means a one-sided rescue operation."

"Can I do anything to stop you?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, and I know you won't try it, either." They locked eyes for a brief moment, before quickly breaking contact.

"Then you have my blessing," Garshaw said quietly. "I do not know what the consequences will be, but we cannot afford to not act."

Jacob's voice was replaced by the deep, reverberating tones of Selmak. "Then we shall act."

* * *

**February 22, 2006  
Atlantis**

"Did they say why the wanted to arrange a meeting?" Colonel Sheppard asked immediately.

"Not specifically," Weir replied. "Only that it concerned a matter of utmost importance to the integrity of the counter-Ori alliance. Their words, not mine."

"Are we just going to walk into this?" Sora interjected. "It could be a trap. It's probably a trap."

"Sometimes we just have to give our allies the benefit of the doubt." The underlying meaning of the General's words was not lost on Sora. "They've given us a neutral planet to meet on. We'll scout the place with jumpers, and if it's all clear, we'll move in escorted."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sora pressed.

"No." The General crossed her arms. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it isn't. But at this point in the game, we don't have much of a choice."

"The Asurans are supposed to be our most powerful ally, besides the Wraith, and even that's a maybe," Sheppard explained. "We know they have weapons that rival the Ancients. We know they have more forces than our own, backed up by a huge industrial capacity. Problem is, we haven't heard anything from them until now."

He turned to Weir. "Permission to take my team and go?"

"Denied."

"What?" That was shocking. He was sure she had her reasons, but he had no idea what they were.

"You're in charge of the city until I come back. If something comes up, you'll have your team to deal with it. I'll take Evan's team. I was a diplomat before, things like this are what I was trained to do."

"May I come as well, ma'am?" Sora asked, surprising everyone in the room.

"Absolutely not," Sheppard snapped.

"I'm... not sure that's a good idea, Sora," Weir told her more gently, giving John a look.

"With respect, General, the Genii are a part of this alliance as well. It is only fair that we be represented as well."

Weir nodded slowly. "All right. We could use your input. But if you jeopardize our relationship with the Asurans, you jeopardize our relationship with the Genii as well."

Sora nodded. "I understand, General. If I were in your position, I would say much the same."

* * *

**Tegalus**

Dust fell from the ceiling as an explosion above ground shook the bunker. Inside were the surviving members of Caledonia's military and civilian leadership. Built for the contingency of nuclear war with the Rand Protectorate, the bunker served admirably protecting its inhabitants from the Ori siege.

"How many dead?" Minister Chaska asked, her voice devoid of any emotion except weariness. The war had taken its toll on everyone, but for the leader of what was supposedly the most powerful nation on the planet, it had been so much worse. She stood by as her people died by the thousands, as their armies desperately tried to hold ground they had no hope of holding. They were making the Ori pay a high price, but in this war of attrition it was clear who the victor would be.

"All communications from the city have ceased," a general, the commander of their territorial armies, told her. "At this point we must assume that it has been completely pacified."

_Pacified_. She knew exactly what that meant. Not long into the invasion, the Ori had tired of the armed resistance they were mounting. They had initially attempted to convert the people, as expected, and sometimes it worked. Those that refused to turn, or that they suspected of being collaborators, were publicly executed. And when that didn't work, the Ori simply killed everyone in the area.

"Ma'am, we can't win a conventional war against the Ori," the general urged her, not for the first time. "The Rand Protectorate has already deployed their nuclear weapons. Every day we lose more and more of our capability. If we can-"

"I give the order," Chaska replied.

"What?- I mean, are you sure about that, ma'am?" The general was surprised. Every time he asked, the Minister had closed her eyes, pondered it, and shook her head. Her uncanny response unnerved him.

"You said it yourself. We can't win this." A deep, heavy sigh. "I just wish it didn't take this long for me to figure it out. The Ori are going to hunt down every last man, woman, and child, and either shoot them or force them to bow down."

She shook her head. "Millions are dead. Millions more are enslaved. I'm not sure who's better off. No, we have to send this message. That we will not submit. Do what you have to do."

* * *

**SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Change of plans," the Sergeant told his group, fastening his helmet on his head. "Looks like Hebridan's gonna have to wait a little longer. We're heading out to relieve the Tok'ra."

"When?" Dee asked, struggling to get her load carrier over her armour. "Damn it, how do live with these things?"

"Dunno, we don't have to force it over a suit of armour," one of the soldiers said, his voice dripping with spite.

"Ah." She ignored the comment. "Don't worry, I'll stay out of your-"

"We're shipping out right now," Wilson told them. "Ray, get the Humvee started."

"Isn't the Tok'ra base like, less than a klick from the gate?" the driver asked, obliging his superior.

"Yep."

"In a fucking desert?"

"Uh-huh."

Ray slammed his helmeted head against the vehicle's steering wheel. "Then why in the fuck are we showing up in goddamn Humvees?"

"Something about fire support," Dee muttered. "They wanted extra firepower."

"Look, I don't know what the hell happened in Iraq, but stop being so fucking cynical," Wilson rebuked. "This is an evacuation, as far as I can tell. We drive there, load everybody up, and drive back."

"Are you sure you're alright with us coming?" Dee asked as they began to roll toward the embarkation room.

"No. A reporter is the last thing I want on this mission," the Sergeant told her frankly. "But half the unit's fucking gone and a target is a target. You wanted up close and personal, you got it."

As they closed the distance to the active stargate he added, "Besides, it's a little goddamn late to bail, isn't it?"

* * *

**M7G-444**

"Anything out there, Alpha Lead?" Major Lorne asked, scoping out the area. So far, it seemed to be a usual Pegasus world- stargate in a clearing in a forest- with no activity at all. In fact, it almost seemed too quiet.

"Negative, just four synthetic killing machine as far as we can tell," replied the pilot of a Jumper five thousand feet above them.

"Copy that." Lorne switched channels. "Atlantis base, sweep complete. You are clear for transit."

"Affirmative." Seconds later, the armoured figures of General Weir and Sora stepped through the open stargate.

As soon as the wormhole shut, four humanoid figures stepped out of the forest. All of them wore the beige Asuran uniform, two male and two female. The taller of the two men stepped forward and introduced himself.

"I am Koracen, of the same faction as Niam was. I have a proposition for you to consider."

* * *

**Tok'ra Colony**

"Dismount and advance! Suppress those positions! Move move move!"

If it weren't for the noise cancelling and filtering in her helmet, Dee wouldn't have been able to hear a word the battlion commander had said. She jumped out of the still-moving Humvee and fired her rifle into the seemingly endless mass of Ori soldiers. It had been made absolutely clear to her that she was not to fire unless fired upon.

This chaotic battlefield was far less clear-cut. Bullets, shells, and a stray missile streaked into the Ori army. Numbering in the thousands, the warriors turned to face the new threat, and began pouring staff weapon fire into the Marines.

Dee watched as a Marine next to her stumbled and fell to the ground, his abdomen gutted by a staff blast. He clutched at his stomach, hands soaked in blood, as his screams of agony were drowned out by the penetrating din of battle.

She knew she would have to act quickly to save the man's life. She grabbed him and pulled him up, eliciting renewed screams of agony as he was tossed into the Humvee. She tore open her tactical vest for a bandage, pressing it to the gaping wound and covering her gloves with blood. Then, suddenly, there was a flash, a puff of smoke, and the screaming stopped.

"FUCK!" Dee fought the urge to retch, letting the Marine slump and bleed all over the seat. The second shot had went straight into his head, killing him instantly. The same mixture of terror, grief, and rage filled her veins as a staff blast fizzled against her shields. She hefted the dead man's SAW.

"Holy shit, reporter's going fucking nuts," the driver muttered, wincing as an energy blast obliterated part of the windshield. "Hey, dead guy, what did you do to piss her off?"

"He's fucking _dead_, you asshole!" the gunner shouted back at him, loading a new belt of grenades into his Mark 19. He yanked the charging handles back and pulled the trigger, cutting a swath of bodies through the Ori ranks.

"Hey, stupid lady! That armour doesn't make you invincible!" he shouted out the side of the vehicle as they bumped over the body of a dead Ori warrior. They were advancing, surely and steadily. The speed and abruptness of their attack had taken the besieging Ori by surprise.

"It pretty much does," a Marine shouted back, limping along the Humvee before awkwardly throwing himself in. He added as explanation, "Bastards got me in the leg."

"Dude, she just blew herself up with a grenade- what the fuck?" The gunner tried to stay focused on his task, now as much avoiding shooting the apparently insane reporter as much as trying to hit the enemy. "Oh, she's still going."

"She's gonna fucking kill herself with those jumpjets," the driver commented as the woman hopped up into the air, spun out of control, and landed on top of a group of Ori warriors. "We should probably get there before she kills herself. The REMFs are gonna have our ass for this."

"What, letting the reporter go nuts or letting the reporter get killed?" the gunner shouted from his position above them. He watched as another armoured figure sprinted toward the first, a cloud of sand kicking up around her. "Aw, shit, now the camera lady's gonna get herself killed."

"See, this is why women aren't allowed in combat," the driver explained. He turned to shout at an Ori soldier standing directly in front of them, a deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes. "Hey, dumbass, get off the fucking road!"

He stayed rooted to the spot until he was smashed against the front of the vehicle with a sickening grunt. The driver continued, "See, men are predictable. We kill things for logical, valid, reasons, like survival or because it's fun. A woman, on the other hand, goes from a cute pussy one moment to a raging maniac the next."

"Ray, less talking, more driving!" a voice crackled in his earpiece.

In response, he revved the engine and the heavy vehicle lurched forward into the collapsing battle line. "Sorry, Sergeant, it's just that we've got a crazy bitch charging into the enemy lines- make that two now- _is that a sword_?"

Their injured passenger leaned out the window, cutting down an Ori warrior with his M16. "No, it's a ka-bar, too short to be a sword."

"We've made it to the Tok'ra bunker, hold this position!" their squad leader shouted at them, rapping on the door of the vehicle. He turned to their charge as she stumbled toward the vehicle, the battle slowly dying down around them.

"Holy shit," Sergeant Wilson breathed, surveying the bloody corpses and the bloody woman in front of him. "Reporter, I'm not sure if I want to shoot you in the back of the head or give you a fucking medal."

* * *

**February 23, 2006  
Aschen Prime**

"We deployed our best weapons."

Herran surveyed the datapad with what he pretended was neutral curiosity. Inside, what he felt was a burning mixture of fear, anger, and grief. What was happening was not his doing, yet he still felt responsible.

He tried to keep his voice level. "Perhaps that is why."

The Aschen could not hope to defeat the Ori in direct combat. As they had found out, they had vastly overestimated the capabilities of their Warpstars. Their fleet numbered in the dozens, but they would be swatted like flies against the Ori motherships. They had lost eight taking down a single frigate.

Neither could they oppose an Ori occupation. The Aschen Confederation had a relatively small population, and virtually no standing army to speak of. They lacked the large, heavy equipment or cunning grasp of warfare of the other armies. When the Ori began invading their outer worlds, they rolled over what little resistance the Aschen could muster.

"We had no choice."

They turned to what they knew best- chemical and biological weapons that would destroy the enemy from the inside out. Of course, their usual slow poisions would not work, so they had to develop quicker ones. The first deployment massacred thousands of Ori troops while affecting no pure Aschen.

Unfortunately, the Ori figured out what they were doing, and the miraculous power of the Priors could heal the sick before they were killed. As the scientists feverishly attempted to counter it and create a virus that would infect and kill even Priors, the Aschen leadership turned to faster, less discriminate poisons.

The other man added, "Despite the seemingly horrifying casualties, five Ori soldiers die for every one of our citizens. We are causing more casualties on their side."

"That is still millions dead by our own hand." Herran was, by definition, not a very good Aschen, and his position of Defence Minister was nothing short of a miracle. In Aschen culture, showing emotion was considered idiotic, or even unorthodox.

The consequences of non-orthodoxy could be severe indeed, yet at the same time it was necessary to continue the Aschen Confederation. It was a convoluted, hypocritical system. The Tau'ri had a word for it- dystopia.

"I expect your resignation at the conclusion of this conflict," he told Herran. "Your service has been exemplary, but I am afraid that you are beginning to show unorthodox thoughts. Perhaps the stresses of the job-"

At that point, Herran lost it. The stresses of the job- the responsibility of the deaths of millions on both sides and the fate of his entire race- weighed heavier on him than either man would care to admit. He tossed the datapad down on the table, shattering its glass screen. Fists balled up in rage, he glared at the other man.

"How can you be so calm about this?" he shouted. "Millions are dead, perhaps billions will be by the conclusion of this conflict! The fate of our people hangs in the balance, and you're treating it like production numbers!"

With one sweep of his arm, he cleared the surface of his desk, stationary clattering to the floor. "For hundreds of years, we've destroyed entire populations, all under the guise of some cold calculus. The Tau'ri have a word for that. _Genocide_. It carries negative connotations in their language, and maybe there's a reason for that!"

"You are un-"

"Don't give me the unorthodox spiel! We're wrong, you know that? We're wrong, and now we're paying for it. We were once a proud, strong, people, with art and culture and a military. We're reduced to a dysfunctional system that can be toppled by the drop of a pin. Now all we can do is exterminate our own to forestall the inevitable."

The other man sighed, seemingly unmoved by the angry rant. "We live in a world of grey, Herran. Simply see to our survival."

* * *

**Atlantis**

"As you know, we wish to pursue Ascension," Koracen told them. "As Niam did, we wish to finally be the equals of the Ancients."

"That's very noble of you," Weir offered. "I take it you're not welcome among the Asurans anymore?"

"That is correct. In fact, that is why it was so urgent we meet with you. It is more than a matter of pursuing our goals. It is a matter of survival."

"You want asylum?"

"Yes."

Sheppard folded his arms. "What exactly do _we_ get out of this?"

"Knowledge," the Asuran replied. "I can download-"

"Oh, no, no, no, you are NOT hooking yourself up to our computers," McKay interrupted.

"-but I'm sure we can figure something out," Weir finished, shooting the scientist a glare. It was true, but being diplomatic was essential. "Just how many of-"

"Ma'am, we've received another message," Chuck interrupted as he entered the conference room. "The rest of the Asurans want to talk."


	9. Desperate Measures (Part 2)

Eh, I'm not happy with this chapter either. Also, please review! Even if all you want to do is let me know you hate it!

* * *

**SGD 3x09 Desperate Measures (Part 2)**

**February 23, 2006  
Atlantis**

"That is not allowable," Koracen told Weir upon hearing that the mainline Asurans were soon to arrive. "They will attack us, attempt to destroy-"

"I assure you that no harm will come to you or your brethren, as long as you are here," Weir replied. "The Asurans will only send a small diplomatic delegation, and they'll be secured. You don't have to worry about it."

"I would still prefer that we be kept separate," he insisted.

"Diplomacy is all about compromise," Weir replied. "You have to understand that the Asurans are our allies. We have to give them an audience."

"And allow us to die?" The rebel Asuran appeared to be more agitated. Was it possible for a machine to be agitated?

"No. I understand that, Koracen. You're fleeing persecution, that makes you a refugee. And refugees have certain rights, one of them being that we can't simply hand them over. I would just like to make it clear that this is a very delicate situation here."

"You don't understand!" Koracen shouted. "If one of them is in close proximity to us they can reset... reprogram us to follow their ideals instead of our-"

"Oh, that is a blatant lie!" McKay shouted, standing up. He turned to Weir. "Elizabeth, I've studied the protocol, I've run simulations. If they had the ability to reset it, they would have done so already."

"They will manipulate you," the rogue insisted. "They have ways of subverting you, making you believe in their cause. You will be misled."

"I don't think so," Weir told him. "We're willing to hear them out, that's all."

"Look, all we're asking is that you sit down and talk," Sheppard told him, trying to defuse the situation. "And right now, you're our guests. If you decide you don't want to be our guests anymore, you're free to leave, and so are they."

He added. "And if anyone tries anything that threatens the security of this city, we will throw them out."

General Weir sighed as she strode up toward the control room, leaving John to deal with the breakaway Asuran. She couldn't shake the feeling that something just seemed... off about the synthetic.

"I apologize that I was not able to arrive earlier," a tall man in the uniform of the Ancients told her. "I was informed that the breakaway Asuran delegate had already arrived and that a delegation from Asuras would be arriving shortly."

"You heard correctly, Luthan," she nodded.

"Excellent. Then we will have multiple units to study."

"Excuse me?" She visibly recoiled at the scientist's cold, casual, yet terrifying statement.

"The Asurans have changed since we created them, thousands of years ago. It would be useful to track those changes-"

"No, I don't think you understand what you're saying." She took a deep breath. "You're suggesting that we study these people like they're just mindless machines!"

"They _are_ machines. Are you suggesting that we are in the wrong?" It was clear what he was implying.

"Yes. Regardless of your opinion," Weir seethed, emphasizing each word. "I will treat the Asurans as if they were human, in accordance with international law, until I am specifically ordered to deviate. Are we clear on that?"

"We are," Luthan replied, deflated. "I will defer to your judgement, but I cannot see my people happy about this."

Of course, there was still one last bombshell to drop. "Luthan, I think it's best if you don't reveal yourself, nor the existence of surviving Ancients."

"Why not? It may help matters. The Asurans would never go against the will of their creators."

She sighed. "Luthan, you're a smart guy. If that was true, why would you have tried to wipe them out in the first place? And why would they try to attack Atlantis? There's a lot of hate, simulated or not. Having Ancients in the equation would only complicate matters."

In hindsight, it wasn't unexpected. The Ancients had tried to destroy the Asurans before- why would they have a change of heart on their status. Keeping the three sides from tearing each other apart was going to be a serious challenge.

* * *

**Hebridan**

Hebridan was lost. He knew their fate was sealed as soon as the war began. He ruled an economic empire, not a military one.

He was the last in the line of rulers- well, perhaps that was a bit theatrical. The CEO of Tech Con had to work his way up to the top. Miles Hagan, a half-Serrakin, started off as a mid-level accountant over twenty years ago. He remembered taking the reins after the previous CEO resigned amid a relationship scandal. Tech Con was, by necessity, the most powerful entity on the planet, with a net worth unmatched across the galaxy. Now, all that wealth was as worthless as the dirt beneath their feet.

Although Hebridan was technically a parliamentary democracy, Tech Con Group was by all practical definitions in control of the planet. That made him, as CEO, the de facto leader of his people, and the commander-in-chief of their limited military forces.

Their military was limited, consisting of most of the Tech Con Corporate Fleet, Tech Con Risk Control Services, parts of Tech Con Transportation Services, and a smattering of much smaller contractors. Their corner of the galaxy was relatively peaceful- they could deal with the occasionally pirate attack or Ha'tak siting. Immense resources had been poured into the Corporate Fleet, resulting in a force that managed to stall the Ori for a matter of minutes before being pounded into dust. TCRCS, a security force that was the closest thing they had to a land army, was well equipped and expanded tenfold prior to the invasion. However, they lacked the training or experience to fight the intense warfare they were now engaged in, and took heavy losses.

Following the example of several Earth nations, he had enacted a measure as controversial as it was desperate. Firearms laws had been repealed, and there was a dramatic shift in Tech Con's marketing. Instead of being able to provide everything one would ever need, they urged the population to prepare. Millions of guns, untold amounts of ammunition, colossal amounts of packaged food and survival supplies, and en-masse organized training were sold. So far, civilian resistance had mixed results.

Evacuation was a sticky consideration. With Hebridan's population numbering in the low billions, even the entirety of their fleet couldn't hope to move a hundredth of their population. A few got out, heading to worlds that may or may not be safer. In a last-ditch move to secure the future of Tech Con, tonnes of precious metals and billions of dollars were moved to the relative safety of Earth.

He had no idea if any of it would be worth anything when this was over.

"The Alliance relief force was diverted," his secretary, uncharacteristically decked out in combat gear, told him. "We do not have an ETA at this time."

He chewed his lip. Their next to last hope- his last hope for getting off the planet alive- was dashed. Under his leadership, they had made contact with the Stargate Alliance of Earth, trading stocks and later on something far more important. It seemed that the humans of Earth had backed down on their deal.

He sighed. "Then we will hold out as long as we can. We will make the cost far outweigh the benefit for the Ori."

* * *

**Atlantis**

"This unit no longer functions properly," the Asuran, Talus, told them after about five seconds of examining his rebel counterpart- separated by a significant distance at gunpoint, of course.

"You're saying just because he's a rebel, he's broken?" Weir asked, more than a little disgusted.

Talus' response was simple, matter-of-fact. "No. He has been manipulated, altered to believe that truths are lies and lies are truths."

He turned to his 'malfunctioning' counterpart. "What is the quotient of 4195835 and 3145727?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Koracen sneered.

He repeated himself. "What is the quotient of 4195835 and 3145727?"

The rebel Asuran sighed. "It's 1.33373. Are you satisfied?"

"And there it is," Talus said, as if it was a grand revelation.

"I'm not seeing it," Weir replied.

"Neither am I," Sheppard concurred.

"Working on it..." McKay shrugged. "Nothing so far."

The Asuran explained it to them. "It is a fundamental logic error introduced into their programming. The correct answer, to six significant figures, is 1.33382."

"I don't see how that's a big problem. We make math mistakes all the time."

"As any organic would." Was that a weary sigh, coupled with a condescending tone? "For us, a simple error would result in disastrous results. Changes in the results of all higher processes. We will reach different conclusions."

He turned back to the other synthetic, who was oddly silent. "You could not have modified your own base code in this manner. Even if it were possible, you would not do so. It would serve no purpose toward your ultimate goal."

Turning back to Weir, he finished, "There is only one logical conclusion. This faction has been manipulated by an outside force, likely the Ori. I request permission to terminate him immediately."

"I can't let you do that," Weir replied, shaking her head. "But you have raised some new questions for our guest. This just got a lot more complicated."

She turned back to Koracen. "Koracen, did your faction collaborate with the Ori?"

The answer was hesitant, but firm. "Yes."

"Why?"

"We wish to ascend, to become equals with the Ancients, to prove our worth once and for all. The Ori can provide that for us."

Weir folded her arms. "And what do they get out of it?"

Koracen replied not to Weir but to the other synthetic. "You will find out shortly."

* * *

**February 14, 2006  
Washington, D.C.**

President Henry Hayes didn't even pretend anymore. He extracted a cigarette from the pack by his coffee mug and lit it, in front of all the other delegates.

He wasn't the only one. A foul-smelling Russian stick protruded from the Russian representative's mouth, and the Frenchman beside him was stubbing out his own.

"The Tok'ra are safe," the President began. "I believe it is best if they stay on Earth for the time being. If there are any objections to that, I would suggest you voice them now."

There were none. "As you know, our allies are being pressed, and they're being pressed hard. The Free Jaffa have lost Chulak and a dozen other worlds. Hebridan, Orban, Langara, Tegalus, and countless others remain under siege. It's a grim situation out there."

"I'm not the expert, but from what I gathered our original strategy was to deploy and hold the stargate, preventing the Ori from bringing in additional forces," the British representative stated. "Clearly that effort has not succeeded."

"Who have we got out there?" the Canadian PM asked.

"One OEF reinforcing the Free Jaffa, another on standby here and another in Pegasus. A unit of Marines just came back, we had another set to deploy to Orban but they either lost or buried their gate. We've got more units on Langara and Tegalus. Operation Free Enterprise was delayed by unforeseen consequences."

"Our strategic planners have suggested a new strategy," the Russian mentioned. "That we deploy our units with the goal of capturing or destroying the landed Ori battleships, while our starships destroy their escort."

"Destroy the battleships with what? Magic?" the British representative scoffed. "Not to mention you'd have to get through the Ori first!"

Hayes shook his head. "No, that's not a bad idea. I want to see a feasibility study, ASAP."

He continued, "For now, it's my suggestion that we put out some of our special forces assets, see if we can raise hell behind enemy lines, and get an idea of what the Ori are really up to. We need a clear intelligence picture, and that is something we do not have."

The President paused, stubbing out his cigarette and lighting another. He took a puff. "Now, there is another matter that has come up. The Asuran situation."

"That decision is simple," the Russian stated. "Our government has already made their position clear. The Asurans could be our most powerful ally in Pegasus. We must have them on our side."

"Can we really just hand over the other Asuran?" the Canadian asked.

"It's a machine," China told him.

"Regardless of whether it is machine or human, we need the Asurans as our ally. It is the cold, hard calculus of war." He sighed between puffs of smoke. "We're getting our asses kicked. I think it's time we consider more drastic measures."

"We've already shifted to a war footing. What more could there be?"

"Weapons of mass destruction," the Russian told them, clear as to the American President's intent. "It is time we consider using chemical and biological, as well as nuclear, weapons, and the possibility of destructive orbital bombardment, against the Ori."

* * *

**Asuras**

The Asurans, if they could feel pride, prided themselves on their preparedness, predicting and accounting for every eventuality. When the hyperspace window opened over the planet and disgorged an Ori battleship and four frigates, they were ready to meet them head-on.

Sixty starships, a mixture of battleships, cruisers, and frigates, sat waiting for the Ori arrival. Before they had even exited hyperspace, a colossal barrage of drone weapons erupted from the fleet, arcing toward the five Ori ships.

As soon as they had finished their firing cycle, the starships began to manoeuvre. Frigates accelerated, closing to a shorter range where their weapons would be more effective. The cruisers dispersed, keeping their forward arcs trained on the Ori, while the battleships turned to expose their broadsides of energy cannons.

The barrage of drones, a yellow cloud making its way through space, separated into four streams, each destined for one of the Ori ships. Three smaller streams pounded the shields of the frigates, while the rest, a much larger stream, hammered the battleship. Though less potent than true Ancient drone weapons, the Asuran drones still severely weakened their shields.

Immediately, the Ori returned fire, four white-hot lances streaking toward the Asuran fleet. Two frigates and a cruiser went up in balls of superheated plasma. A battleship took the brunt of its Ori counterpart's beam, its shields flickering and dying. Immediately, another moved in to take its place.

With the intent of obliterating the frigates closing rapidly on them, the Ori ships opened fire with their secondary batteries. Blue energy bolts slammed into the comparatively weak shields of the Asuran frigates. One was particularly unlucky and took five hits before being destroyed.

At the same time, the Asuran fleet opened fire with their own energy weapon batteries. A flurry of bright yellow bolts from the battleships and cruisers lanced toward the Ori fleet, augmented by the frigates firing at close range.

The Ori frigates engaged in evasive manoeuvres, but they could not avoid the machines' perfect aim. Though not every bolt would hit, the Asurans calculated the most likely position of their target and blanketed the area with statistically-distributed fire. One by one, the frigates' shields succumbed to the onslaught and failed, exposing the hulls below.

A small contingent of Asuran ships broke off to finish off the crippled frigates while the rest focused on the battleship, which had fired its beam weapon and taken out one of their own. A second barrage, this one a mixture of drones and energy pulse weapons, shredded the battleship's immensely strong shields. It held on valiantly, taking hits directly to its hull as it fired one last dying shot and bringing an Asuran battleship down with it.

The Asurans, having only a basic concept of wants and satisfaction, did not celebrate their victory. Instead, they methodically began salvaging their damaged and destroyed ships, as well as examining the wreckage of the Ori vessels for anything that could be of use.

It would be the first decisive victory against the Ori, but not the last.

* * *

**Atlantis**

"What do you think?"

John shrugged in response to Elizabeth's question. "The orders seemed pretty clear to me."

"I want to know what you think," she insisted.

Another shrug. "To be perfectly honest, I don't know where I stand. On one side, we've got the cold, calculating machines that want to kill us. On the other hand, we have the less cold, less calculating machines that sold out their race to the Ori.

"I wouldn't trust either one of them, really."

"Rodney?"

"Hmm, yes? Well, there's the ascendo-replicators, and as admirable as that goal is, it's impossible anyway. I don't think it matters much, though, because if I understood what the rebel robot said right- and I'm sure I did- the replicators are about to get attacked anyway."

"Luthan, you've been oddly silent. Do you have anything to say?"

"I... was always told, always believed, the Asurans were nothing more than machines." Luthan was shaky, hesitant.

"Because they are," McKay told him, smugly.

"No, I'm not sure anymore. I think they may be more like us than we give them credit for."

"Seems like an awfully quick change of heart," Weir mentioned.

"I have had my doubts for some time, Doctor," Luthan replied quietly. "You must understand, Ancient society is not the utopia you assume it is. Above all, we are a supremely arrogant people. An arrogance that was our power... and our downfall."

"Then it's settled." Weir concluded. "We follow orders. We hand Koracen over to the Asurans."

"Are you happy with that decision?" John asked her as they left the conference room.

"No. But I don't think I'd be happy with the other choice, either."

It wasn't far to the other conference room where Koracen and Talus were, kept apart by armed guards. Luthan waited outside as the rest of them sat down around the table.

"I've received word from my superiors," Weir announced.

"And I from mine," Talus interrupted before she could continue. "The Ori attack on Asuras was repelled. You have failed."

"No matter," Koracen dismissed. "We have upheld our side of the deal. The path to enlightenment is open."

"No, it isn't," Weir told him. "I'm handing you over to the Asurans. It was one of the hardest order's I've had to follow. I'm sorry, Koracen."

"No! You can't do that!" the rebel Asuran shouted. With surprising speed, he leaped over the table at Talus. Before they could make contact, he disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"We beamed him into orbit," Sheppard told Talus. "After we're sure he's nice and frozen, we'll ship him to Asuras. He's all yours."

* * *

**Hebridan**

"I'm good with the SEALs," Sergeant First Class Rick Lloyd said to no one in particular. He grabbed the steel storage rack of the A-3 as it descended through Hebridan's atmosphere. "I'm good with the SAS. I'm even willing to work with the fucking Spetznaz if it comes to that, but why in the fuck are we being led by some Space Cadet cunt who's closest thing to combat experience was hiding inside a Humvee?"

"That's a bloody good question, mate," his SAS counterpart replied. "I'd say whoever

"Where I come from, we have saying," a lithe man with a heavy Russian accent told them. "We finish mission, get job done, no matter how many incompetent commanding officers are in the way."

"Ninety seconds. Prepare for drop," the copilot said from the front of the craft. "Get your helmets locked and sealed. I'm popping the hatch in sixty."

There was no excess chatter as the professionals gave their gear one last check. Despite his misgivings about their organization, Rick did realize they had some kickass equipment. His Aegis V armour was both far more protective and less restrictive than conventional body armour- two reasons why they wore it rather than wearing nothing at all, which was not uncommon for some types of mission. The others were the full pressurization and jump jets.

That was something he still had his doubts about, to say the least.

"Popping the hatch. If anyone's head explodes, it's not my problem."

As the hatch opened and the slipstream threatened to pull anything unsecured out of the craft, an icon popped up on his HUD. The display was semi-transparent, overlayed over his vision, showing everything from shield strength to magnetometer readings. It was still too much like his son's video games for his liking.

"We're over the target, jump now!" A different voice, the annoyingly shrill one of his current commanding officer, Major Veronica Harper. Why in the hell the AESF liked putting women with no experience in charge of things they had no idea how to do was beyond him. Nevertheless, like a good soldier he followed the orders given.

Though he had done it dozens of times before in simulations, jumping out of a supersonic craft with no parachute still ranked as the craziest thing Rick had ever done, in Delta, the Rangers, or civilian life. Missiles and energy bolts flew around them as ground-based defences and a few remaining fighters opposed the Ori's own fighter wings. He looked down, and despite the incredible speed could make out the burning, ruined capital of Hebridan, as well as their landing target, highlighted in blue.

A target that was about the size of a football field. How the hell they were supposed to hit that he didn't know, but apparently the software really was that good. He could take manual control if he needed to, but nine times out of ten it was better to simply let the automated systems do their job. He felt small pulses of thrust correct his course.

It had a technical name- High Altitude Rocket Deceleration, or HARD. Already, the jokes had been made- it's called HARD because that's how you'll hit the ground. Despite its (rather unnerving) technical abbreviation, it more in common with Halo than HALO. When he was so close to the ground that he thought he was going to smash into it, the jumpjets mounted on his back fired.

Even with his suit's inertial dampeners, he could feel the intense deceleration as he slowed from terminal velocity to survivable velocity in seconds. As soon as the deceleration burn finished, he impacted the ground, imparting another massive impulse that would have been completely unsurvivable without inertial dampening.

He quickly checked his weapon, raising it and training it around the area as he ran out of the immediate landing zone. Others that had already landed did the same as more came down, sending plumes of dirt into the air as they impacted.

Numbering twenty in total, the team's mission was simple. Drop in on Hebridan, find Miles Hagan, and extract him. The original plan was for a larger force to gate in and push all the way through the capital, but the forces were needed somewhere else, so they changed tactics.

Of course, they had to go through a ruined, occupied city first.

* * *

**February 15, 2006  
SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"So we still haven't heard anything from our old friend Ba'al, the space cartels, or those strange ships that showed up in Pegasus," General Jack O'Neill mused to his team, conspicuously minus Daniel, over coffee. "So, Carter, how are the eggheads doing?"

"It's not really my department anymore, sir, but not that I-"

"I've got it! I've got it!" Daniel shouted, running into the room, notebook in hand.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Got what?"

"Merlin's weapon. I know where it is." He opened his notebook, showing a selection of scribbles meaningless to anyone else. "Now, the reason our survey teams couldn't find anything on either Castiana or Sahal is because there was nothing there. Those planets were clues, but not the location of the Sangraal."

He flipped pages, revealing a crudely drawn and illegibly labelled triangle and tetrahedron. "The locations of Castiana, Sahal, and Vegonbrei form a more or less equilateral triangle in space. Add the departure point- Camelot- and you get a tetrahedron."

"And that means exactly what?" Jack asked.

"That's the thing. I didn't know until I overheard some of the scientists discussing triangles and tetrahedrons and simplexes and it came to me. Threes."

"Logic. Train. Do. Not. Follow."

"The address. An equilateral triangle and a pyramid are both visual representations of three into one. Apply that logic to the address and you get a planet with an address made up of symbols from each of those three addresses."

Sam shook her head. "We're closer, but it could take a while. Given the number of symbols and the number of addresses in the database, we could be looking at dozens, maybe hundreds of permutations."

"You'd think so, yes, but I ran a search through the database and it only came out with one address. We've got it."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?"


	10. The Quest (Part 1)

As of this point, SGD is officially cancelled. I'm too busy to continue this story, and to be honest I don't want to do it anymore.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm just leaving everyone hanging. I've had that happen to me, it makes me really disappointed and a bit pissed off, and I'm not going to do that to you.

You'll get an ending. It may not be a great ending, or even a good ending, but it'll be at least as good as Mass Effect 3's ending. nBSG's ending, even.

Tentatively, figure one more episode concluding this story arc, then two to three episodes of the new ending, and then one short epilogue.

* * *

**SGD 3x10 The Quest (Part 1)**

**February 26, 2006  
SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"What do you mean there's nothing there? There can't be nothing there!"

"Sorry, Daniel, but there's nothing there," Jack O'Neill told him, fiddling with a pen. He leaned back in his chair. "I had the Prometheus divert from Tegalus to make a flyby. They didn't find anything but space."

"It's there, I know it, it has to be." Daniel adjusted his glasses. "Look, maybe Morgan Le Fay put some kind of protection on the planet to keep it from being accessed by ship.

"We tried dialling the gate," Jack told him. "Got a lock, viable atmosphere, strange energy readings and a couple of medieval villages."

Daniel's face turned from disappointed to shocked to confused to vengeful in the space of five seconds. "You knew?"

"The look on your face was priceless! Priceless, I say!" The immature General smacked his palm on the table.

"Jack, we're fighting a war for our survival, one that we may very well lose! How can you joke at a time like this?" Daniel nearly shouted.

"If you don't relieve the tension somehow, you'll go bananas. Making a joke once in a while staves off the feeling of imminent doom. It's worked up to this point."

He clapped Daniel on the shoulder. "The rest of SG-1 already knows. Since the Ori can't use their ships, we have the advantage for once. You're going in with heavy backup- a couple SG teams and most of the Third OEF. Carter's already packing her doohickeys."

* * *

**Hebridan**

"My god, they just keep throwing everything they have at that tower," Major Veronica Harper observed. She was on her stomach, on the roof of what was probably once an office building. The elevator was nonfunctional and several staircases had been blown out. Getting up to the roof was... interesting. In fact, it would have been impossible if not for the judicious use of their jump jets.

"They're wasting their men. For all their technology, they have no idea how to fight," Rick observed. Their target was the Tech Con corporate headquarters, a colossal structure the size of three Empire State Buildings. It had a broad base, perhaps ten stories tall, with a skyscraping tower extending from its centre.

Not only was the building huge, it was also incredibly well fortified. The thick steel and concrete structure was damaged, but showed no signs of collapsing. There was evidence of small fires, but clearly they had not threatened the tower. VLS cells for surface-to-air missile batteries were visible- they had observed one take down an Ori fighter earlier that day. Muzzle flashes erupted from the lower storeys, clearly visible even with the dull glow of battle and partially extinguished city lights. Drones floated around, exchanging fire with

That was another good thing about their Aegis suits. Muzzle flash didn't make the night vision useless.

He examined the area around the building. Lots of smashed cars, or what looked like cars, anyway. The corpses of Ori soldiers mixed with a smaller number of civilian casualties- the defenders wouldn't even let them get to their dead and wounded. What looked like a temporary base camp was set up a moderate distance away. As he watched, another group of Ori soldiers walked into machine-gun fire. "There's a good chance the HVI is still alive-"

"I know that," Veronica snapped at him. "The problem is getting in."

"Well, we had an easy time getting here. It's just balancing things out." They had actually used a technique that only existed in fiction and a handful of simulated drills before they had tried it. They had climbed to the top of a building, then, using their jump jets, hopped across the top of the city. It was dangerous- if one of them miscalculated, they would fall. Though the landing was _probably_ survivable, they would be entirely at the mercy of the Ori at street level.

It was fast and they had only been detected a few times. The first and third were easy- they had the height advantage and were up against lone Ori patrols. The second was when they had to drop to street level to cross a highway. It had resulted in an intense firefight against an entrenched Ori position- eighteen elite soldiers and two women that shouldn't be there against fifty conscripts with garbage weapons. As soon as the energy bolts began flying, they took cover and began methodically tearing down the Ori forces. Textbook perfect.

And then their great leader had nearly got them killed. A group of Hebridanian partisans, thinking they could seize the opportunity, charged from the other end of the bridge, firing wildly with their assault rifles and funny submachine gun things.

"_What the hell are they doing? They're going to get themselves killed!" Veronica shouted, reloading her FAL rifle, which despite being shortened was almost too long for her body._

_Rick peered through what he assumed was once the windshield of a car, now a mess of cracked and broken glass. Some of the Ori had turned to face the new threat, and had already dropped two of the partisans. "They'll keep the Ori distracted- they can't focus on two threats. We can sneak through."_

_There was a loud screech from a woman as she was hit by an errant staff blast. "And let them die?"_

"_It is not the mission!" a Russian-accented voice told her over the comm link._

"_Over my dead body it isn't," Veronica spat. She cocked her rifle and stood up. "When I start shooting, hit 'em with everything we've got."_

Normally, their modus operandi was to conserve ammo- carefully place shots, two- and three-round bursts. Despite their increased carrying capacity, they still had to be careful. They didn't have to worry about ammo being heavy, but it was still big.

"_Hey, dumbfucks, over here!" In the open, facing the Ori soldiers, stood their commanding officer, Major Veronica Harper. She had loaded a 100-round C-mag into her rifle, and was firing wildly from the hip. Amazingly, she managed to hit two of the Ori warriors, shredding one's leg and blowing the other's chest wide open. Energy bolts slammed into her shields, but she stood fast "Come and get me!"_

_The rest of the Ori warriors quickly turned, taking the fire off the partisans. The commando group opened fire, wasting ammunition but ripping the Ori forces to shreds in record time._

_Veronica was kneeling beside one of the rebels. She had slung her rifle and removed a bandage from her load carrier, pressing it to a bleeding energy bolt wound. "Keep pressure on it. Find somewhere to hide. And don't try that again."_

_He heard someone whisper from behind him, with a tone of reluctant admiration, "She's fucking crazy."_

He had to admit, though, she had guts. And she was getting better.

Maybe even fast enough to keep them alive-

"Uh, we're seeing some activity here," a voice called over the radio, breaking the soldier out of his thoughts. "Looks like five humans, coming up the stairwell. They don't seem to be Ori, repeat, they do not appear to be Ori warriors."

"I'm on my way," Veronica replied, sliding back and standing up. She jumped through the roof access hatch and slid down the ladder. The rest of the team was arrayed defensively in a ruined office and several of the adjoining hallways. She strode to the partially destroyed staircase and peered down.

Five figures were visible in the shadows. With a few carefully controlled eyebrow movements, she scrolled through her night-vision modes until she found the clearest one. Three men and two women in bulky, opaque-masked armour stared up at her. They were all armed with Hebridanian SMGs, and most of them had an extra weapon, a rifle or machine-gun by the looks of it, on their back.

She shouted back, "Identify yourselves!"

One of the men moved to say something, but the taller of the two women stopped him. She replied, "Tech Con Risk Control Services. Heavy Security Division."

"Great, so we're dealing with heavily armed mall cops," someone whispered from beside Veronica.

She glared at him. "TCRCS is basically their army. HSD was formed to counter the Ori threat. They were actually meant to go offworld, but never got the chance before Hebridan was invaded. They've got semi-powered armour and the latest weapons to come out of Hebridan's arsenal." /infodump, move

She turned to the woman below, who continued, "I could ask you the very same thing, by the way."

"Major Veronica Harper, Allied Earth Space Forces, Special Warfare Command."

"You know, I'd love to keep shouting up and down this- well, it was a staircase when I worked here- but do you think you could lower us a rope or something?"

* * *

**February 27, 2006  
SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Naquadah generator."

"Are you sure you need a full naquadah generator? Isn't it a little heavy?"

"We have no idea what we're going into, Daniel," Sam replied, reaching out with an armoured hand. It turned out that powered exoskeletons also made moving heavy items around far easier. "I ran the calculations myself, we should still be well underweight."

Using a flash-fabricated harness, she attached the generator to the bottom of her titanium framed pack. It was already stuffed to a ridiculous degree- full of all the gadgetry she would need to power up and interface with any of the alien technology they had encountered- and some they hadn't.

Beside it was the rest of her load. Two holsters- one for a pistol and one for a zat. Tactical vest loaded with ammunition, grenades and a few other sundries. The M700 and RAB she would carry were still kept in the armoury- they were casual at the SGC, but not _that_ casual. Additional pouches held even more equipment. It was probably at least three hundred pounds worth in total- well in excess of what a normal human could carry.

"Gone through your own yet?" she asked Daniel after giving her pile a quick once-over.

"Yeah, I think so. I've got my notes, a few references, tools, and what seems to be half the armoury."

"Colonel Carter, Doctor Jackson?" a Sergeant interrupted. "The Asgard and Ancient delegates have arrived. They're waiting in the main conference room."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Carter acknowledged, heading toward the door. She turned to Daniel. "Any idea who they sent?"

"I know the Ancients sent Luthan- Captain Helia assured us that he's the best at what he does."

"That sounds about right."

"As for the Asgard, I have no idea who it's gonna be."

"If you pardon the interruption, sir and ma'am, the Asgard didn't send an Asgard at all. Now I didn't get a good look at him, but whoever walked through that gate was definitely human."

"Huh, I guess they went through with it."

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"Oh, something Thor was talking about. Using humans as part of their military." Daniel paused. "See, the thing is, the Asgard can't afford to risk losing even a single mind- they're already almost extinct. I guess whatever moral quandaries they had were outweighed by pragmatism... and desperation."

The Sergeant left them to enter the briefing room. Teal'c, Vala, and General O'Neill were already there, as were the two guests. One of them was a man- technically a male Ancient- in a Lantean uniform- Luthan. The other figure was much more dramatic.

He was clearly human, or at least humanoid in form, and at least six and a half feet tall. He was encased entirely in a silvery-white suit of armour, sleek with several blended and curved bulges. There appeared to be no seams, but when he shifted slightly, the movement was effortless, the smooth material changing shape. His face was obscured by a helmet with a slim, darkened strip of material over his eyes.

"Ah, there you are!" General O'Neill greeted. "You already know Luthan, and, well, I don't know who this is, but I'm pretty sure he's not Asgard."

"You would be correct about the latter, but not the former, General O'Neill," a feminine, and slightly familiar voice told him. As if by magic, the helmet receded from the top to the neckline, revealing a

"Gairwyn?" Daniel gasped in surprise.

"It has been a long time, Doctor Jackson."

* * *

**Langara**

The preferred method of delivery for a naquadriah bomb was from the air, though it had only been done once. A high-speed, high-altitude bomber, escorted by a wing of fighters, would rush over the enemy's defences and drop the bomb before making a sharp turn for home. If that was not possible, the high energy density of the naquadriah meant a bomb small enough to fit in an artillery shell could be built, though it had not been tried.

They didn't have a bomber. Even if they did have a bomber that wasn't smashed and an airstrip that wasn't cratered, the Ori would blow whatever they send out of the sky. Even if they sent a group- which was called for in several of their war plans- it was likely none would reach their target. And they didn't have any extra bombs to waste.

So the men of the Special Weapons Group were forced to improvise. If they couldn't attack from the air, they would have to do it from the ground. Six of the twelve bombs stored in the reinforced bunker were pulled out and loaded onto trucks. There was nothing special about the trucks, they were just ordinary supply trucks. In addition to the usual flow of supply trucks, they had send out several decoys.

The Ori clearly did not have a good grasp of warfare. An old adage said that an inexperienced commander thought in terms of tactics, but a truly cunning one thought in terms of logistics. Their logistics were under attack, but the Ori seemed focused on pacifying civilians and destroying military forces rather than what supplied them. There was still a good chance each of the trucks would be intercepted, but it was not the certain guarantee it should have been.

It would be a one way mission. Although the plan was to get the bomb as close as possible, then abandon it with a timer, it was clear what was actually going to happen. If one of them got close enough, they would detonate it. The stakes were too high to rely on a timer. All twelve men were volunteers, and knew exactly what they were going in to. With heavy hearts but stoic resolve, they wrote letters to the family and friends they still had left, and willed out their personal effects.

When the first group to make it far enough immolated themselves in nuclear fire, it would change the course of the war.

* * *

**February 28, 2006  
SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Alright, let's go over this one last time," Carter said to her team, consisting of SG-1 with the addition of Luthan and Gairwyn. The former looked uncomfortable in his borrowed armour, the latter perfectly comfortable in her Asgard suit. Both her scientific and her military mind had a deep desire to see what the Asgard had done.

"Why?" Vala asked belligerently. "You've already told everyone. Several times, in fact."

"Vala," Daniel warned. "This is important."

"Fine."

Carter cleared her throat. "The Third OEF goes in first. The recon elements are the first through- the tip of the spear. We've already scouted the area with UAVs-"

"And crashed one into some kind of force field," Vala added.

"Actually, it was a temporal anomaly. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure out what it is when we get there. Anyway, we've already scouted the area with UAVs. There appears to be one large medieval town, as well as a few smaller ones. The recon team goes through first to see exactly what we're up against. The main elements will go through next and secure the gate and the town."

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Daniel asked. "I mean, I know this isn't the first time I've said it, but do we really have to roll in the tanks?"

"I'll be honest. I think we're going way too far," Carter told him. "This comes right from the top. If Merlin's weapon is really on that planet, we need to take it, whatever the cost."

"It is very likely that the outcome of the war will hinge on the outcome of this mission," Luthan mentioned sagely.

"Also, there's one last-minute addition-"

"You're being reinforced," a familiar voice interrupted. A second, more standard four-person SG team strode toward them. Leading them, battle rifle in hand, was Major Melissa Roberts. SG-114. "It's good to be working with you again, ma'am."

* * *

**P9X-749**

Two dozen men and women in heavy armour were the first to come through the gate. Unlike the rest of the 3rd OEF, they were equipped with full Aegis V suits rather than the cheaper Aegis IV. They used their jump jets to maximum effect, skimming over the treetops and dropping down in the middle of the town.

"Everyone stay calm!" Captain Colette Berger shouted at the villagers.

Some of the locals stopped and stared, but most of them panicked, running in the opposite direction, screaming. A few brave souls tried to attack, and were swiftly put down by zat blasts.

"We are here in peace. We wish not to harm you. Stay out of the way and do not be alarmed."

She switched off her external speakers and said, "Quarterback, this is Punter. Village appears to be clear. Villagers are nervous but not violent."

"Affirmative, Punter," Colonel Dillon Everett replied from his command vehicle, a modified M302, on the other side of the gate. "Linebacker, you are clear to advance. Proceed as planned. Quarterback out."

On his command, the mechanized forces of the Third OEF began moving through the gate. Linebacker was the defensive formation meant to hold the stargate, made up largely of tanks and IFVs. They moved through quickly and efficiently, taking positions to cover the portal from attack from either end.

"Linebacker in position, sir! No anomalous activity!"

"Copy that, Linebacker. Receiver, you are clear to move out." Everett felt a slight lurch as his command vehicle began to move. Receiver would move into and secure the village. It was a lighter element, consisting largely of IFVs and Humvees, as well as infantry on foot.

At the front of the three vehicle wide formation was a trio of what were affectionately referred to as "Killdozers"- the AESF's specialized engineering vehicles. They charged into the forest, cutting a swath toward the medieval town with heavy lasers and brute force.

When the armoured behemoths rolled through the streets of the town, it was the most terrifying thing many of the residents had ever witnessed. Most of them simply got out of the way, though a few again rushed at the invaders. They were, again, swiftly dropped with non-lethal force. The initial panicking crowds quickly calmed to a stunned silence.

"Sierra Gulf One, this is Quarterback," Colonel Everett said smoothly over the comm as he surveyed the village. "Looks like it's all clear. The villagers are fuckin' terrified, but there has been no hostile activity. The mission is a go."

* * *

"Copy that, Colonel," Samantha Carter replied, emerging from the stargate along with the rest of her team a moment later. Using their jump jets, they 'skated' across the messy path the initial force had cleared, except for Gairwyn, who simply flew about a metre above the ground.

They landed at the edge of a town, where a group of soldiers was stringing out barbed wire and deploying machine guns. One of them, a male Lieutenant, waved them through.

"We're not gonna hurt you- we're not gonna fucking hurt you! We're just here to look around!" a Master Corporal shouted at a group of women. He turned to his immediate superior, a very slim Sergeant. "Sergeant, what do I do? These people don't understand the concept of a firearm, what the fuck am I supposed to tell them?"

She shrugged in response. "Be reassuring. Make it clear that we're only trying to help. Hell, if that don't work, try giving them Charms."

Beside them, a group of men were being forced to the ground at gunpoint and their wrists zip-tied together. One of the soldiers standing over them shouted, "That's what you get for messing with Earth, motherfucker!"

A young woman with the single chevrons of a private was trying to give a chocolate bar to a scared child. He stared at the Mylar wrapped sweet. She smiled at him through her transparent faceplate, and he quickly snatched the offering before bolting away.

"This town is now under the protection of the Allied Earth Space Forces," a voice blared from loudspeakers. "Stay inside unless you have urgent business to attend to. Do not make any aggressive moves. Above all, stay calm. Your life and liberty is not under attack."

_This is despicable,_ Daniel Jackson thought. _We're occupying this town, with no regard for these people's way of life, no regard for their culture or our differences. We're no better than the Ori._

_Except we leave when we're done_, a voice at the back his head mentioned. It was countered by another. _ But what happens after? These people won't just go back to their everyday routine after we leave. Just by being here, we've fundamentally changed their understanding of the world._

"Our goal is not to change your way of life, nor is it to interfere with your everyday activities," the loudspeaker continued. "Make no mistake- we are in control. We will strive to be as transparent as possible."

"Maybe you should tell them why," Daniel said over the comm.

A moment later, the speaker blared another statement. "We believe this town may be under threat from a hostile force known as the Ori. Our intent is to protect you from that force."

"You invaded our village, you bastards!" a young woman shouted at them.

Her companion, a rugged man of similar age, urged her to be quiet. "Don't be threatening, they will use their magic against us."

"How are we supposed to get any of them to cooperate with us now?" Daniel asked ruefully.

"Hey!" Vala called. "We're looking for the Sangraal! It's a red thing about this big. Does anyone have an idea where it is?"

"Vala, I don't think that's going to work," Daniel chided.

"We know what the Sangraal looks like," a man with a green vest and tan tunic told them. "It's been many generations since anyone has come in search of it and taken up the quest."

Daniel walked toward the man, the rest of the team following his lead. "This quest, how do we take it up?"

"Don't help them!" a burly man shouted at him.

"Shut up!" someone said to _him_.

Daniel held up his hands. "Everyone relax. We just want information."

"If you truly seek the Sangraal, you must consult with the Parchment of Virtues in the village library," the man told them. He pointed to a squat stone building. "It will prepare you for the journey to come."

"That way?" The man nodded. "Thank you."

As they headed toward the library, the man warned, "I should warn you. No one has ever returned from the quest alive. Clearly, however, you are not the same as the other adventurers."

Daniel turned. "What do you mean?"

"They were like us. You possess magic like Merlin did, so long ago."

"Someone's going to have to explain to these idiots the difference between magic and technology," a voice growled over the comm net.

"Clear the comms!" Colonel Everett snapped back.

* * *

The library was small, dark, and musty. A pair of candles and parchment-covered windows provided minimal illumination. Scrolls of parchment and primitive leather-bound books, covered in dust, were piled high on shelves and on tables.

"Hello," Daniel called. "Is there anyone in there?"

"One lifesign," Gairwyn told them. "Picking up some anomalous readings, but I am not sure what they are."

"What kind of anomalous readings?" Carter asked.

"I do not know. My suit's microframe is processing the data as fast as possible."

"Right, Parchment of Virtues," Vala said. "Do we look under "P" for parchment or "V" for virtues?"

"I say look for any and all materials related to the Sangraal," Daniel told her.

"Or you could simply ask me!" an aged voice called. An old man in red robes with a grey beard and balding head stepped into the room. "I am Osric, keeper of the village archives."

"Hi. We're looking for something called the Parchment of Virtues," Carter replied, getting straight to the point.

"Ah, another band of stalwart heroes come to tempt fate in the hopes of claiming the legendary prize," Osric mused.

"Actually, we need to find it in order to save not one but two galaxies from an unstoppable invasion force," Vala told him.

Daniel coughed and asked Osric, "What do you know of the Sangraal?"

"Only what I have heard from legend. That it is located in a cave beyond the outlying forest. But, that the journey there is fraught with peril," Osric informed, searching the archives. Finding what he was looking for, he began climbing up a small wooden ladder. "Ages ago, Morgan Le Fay enchanted the area with a terrible curse."

He reached for a large wooden box and handed it to Carter. "Since then, it has claimed countless lives."

"Well, we don't put much stock in curses, so…" Daniel muttered.

"Neither did Phaedra, the cobbler's wife. Several weeks ago, she set off in search of her son who had strayed too far from the village. Neither have been seen nor heard from since."

Osric took the box back and opened it, removing a pristine, rolled up parchment. "This parchment was purportedly left behind by Morgan herself, as a guide for knights of noble spirit, since it is said that only the most virtuous will succeed in claiming the Sangraal."

Daniel held out his hand. "May I?"

"Of course," the old man replied, handing the scroll over. The text was written in Ancient.

"_Only those of virtue true may win the prize concealed beyond the reach of the flawed and tainted. The Sangreal shall instead belong to he who speaks the guardian's name,_" Daniel translated. He furrowed his brow in confusion. "Guardian's name?"

"They say that the Sangreal is protected by the most powerful of magical beasts — a dragon."

They exchanged skeptical looks. "Dragon?"

"You doubt the legend?"

"Well, I'm sure the Sangraal is protected by something very powerful," Carter replied, "But I don't think it's an _actual_ dragon."

"It may be similar to what the Asgard created for the Protected Planets," Gairwyn mentioned.

Osric laughed. "Believe what you will. With luck you may have the opportunity to prove the truth for yourselves."

"_Prudence, wisdom, charity, kindness, and faith. Let these be your guide on this perilous quest._"

Vala's frown was visible behind her clear faceplate. (/seems just like canon, except, not) "Well, I'm sorry, but I think we're going to need a little bit more than that to go on."

"No, all Morgan left behind was this parchment," Osric replied.

"Are you sure there is not more?" Luthan asked.

Osric gently took the parchment back, rolled it up, and placed it inside the box. "And… the map."

"Uh, there's a map?" Roberts asked.

Osric laughed again. "Yes."

"May we see it?" Teal'c asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It was taken by the last group of adventurers, a long time ago. They repaid my kindness by stealing the map, and it has not been seen since."

"He's holding something back," Chazan said quietly, only over their comm link.

"Okay, look," Roberts said, taking him aside. "I don't think you understand what's at stake here. There are other worlds out there- hundreds of them. Doctor Jackson, about how many people live on this planet?"

"Uh, probably in the tens or hundreds of thousands," Daniel replied. It was an extremely rough estimate- there could be no more villages or a massive city on the other side of the planet. But he understood what the Major was trying to do.

"Some of those worlds are much like your own." She tapped a few buttons and brought up a holographic image of planet with a population figure below it, projected above her wrist. "This is my homeworld, Earth. That number is not a mistake. Over five billion people live on my world."

"Six... billion?" Osric gasped.

"We have the highest population of any known planet. Hebridan- two billion and dropping fast." The hologram changed to one of a planet decimated by nuclear detonations. "Tegalus- it used to be three billion. Now it's two. That's one _billion_ people dead. Langara- hundreds of millions have died already, and the rate is about to increase."

"What is happening? How can this happen?"

"They're called the Ori," Daniel informed him. "They're a group- a massive group of people- that insist on forcing their false religion on everyone in the galaxy. Their technology is more advanced, even more advanced than our own. Unless we do something, they're going to kill or enslave the entire galaxy.

"Now, we believe the key to defeating them lies with the treasure Morgan Le Fay left here. If we can get that device before the Ori do, then we can stop the crusade and defeat the Ori. We can't win this war conventionally. It's our last hope."

The old man appeared stunned at the revelation. "I had no idea..."

"I didn't expect you would," Daniel replied.

"In that case, there is still one copy left." Osric pointed to his head. "In here."


	11. The Quest (Part 2)

I apologize for the writing quality. My reasons have been outlined in the previous chapter.

If you have any last minute requests, please post them and I'll try to work them in. I've included even more references, callbacks and shoutouts than usual, because I want to have some fun with this before I end it.

* * *

**SGD 3x11 The Quest (Part 2)**

**March 1, 2006  
Wraith Hive-Ship**

It was a strange war, Ba'al reflected. It was desperate, sure, and brutal, but above all it was simply odd.

The very same strategies used against him, he found himself using. He was experimenting with removing the need to feed, and cloning humans to be used as food or slaves. He was making hit and run strikes against the Ori. He was sending out small teams of heavily armed Wraith on missions to attack Ori strongholds.

When all else failed, though, he still wiped out entire planets from orbit.

Enemies became allies. Technically he was still aligned with the Tau'ri, but they rarely encountered each other. The Travelers had put their well-deserved hatred aside and had actually _helped_ him in one battle. The two other Wraith factions were, grudgingly, on his side. Even the Pegasus Replicators were content to ignore him.

And yet the Ori were still winning.

He surveyed the holographic map of his territory with feigned disinterest. Inwardly, he was seething. His territory had been reduced to half, then to a quarter, then to an eighth of what it had been as the Ori systematically converted worlds and destroyed his ships as they attempted to cull. His empire had shrunk even quicker than it had grown.

Unlike the fools who had administered the Wraith armada before, however, Ba'al understood strategy. His strategically important worlds- newly established industry- were safely in the centre of his territory. That safety would not last, of course, but he could afford to lose the worlds he was losing. His fleet was ragged, but he was making the Ori pay for every Long Slither.

Of course, he had a backup plan. It would be an embarrassment, but better than losing his precious life.

* * *

**P9X-749**

"What the fuck?"

The first thing Melissa noticed was the bird hanging motionless in the air. The next thing she noticed was what appeared to be a few dozen people, men and women in medieval garb, rooted to the ground, frozen in place in much the same fashion.

Carter held up her hand, and they halted behind her. "I'm picking up temporal distortions. Stronger here... weaker there... huh."

"A time distortion field," Luthan explained to them. "We experimented with such devices, but found few practical application for them. Both Moros and Ganos Lal would have had access to such technology."

"Are you sure?" Vala asked. "If it's a time distortion field, why are the leaves moving in the trees?"

"It is likely an illusion, designed to reproduce the standing weather pattern," Gairwyn told her. "The time within the field is extremely decelerated. These people are in fact moving, but from our perspective, it is imperceptibly slow."

"Can't we just go around it?" Vala asked.

Carter shook her head. "The outer edge of the field extends as far as I can tell in either direction. And it has a slight curve to it. I mean, for all I know, it could form a complete circle."

"I think I may have found a way in," Gairwyn interrupted. "There is a circuitous path of real-time within the temporal field."

"It's a maze," Daniel clarified.

"Indeed it is, Doctor Jackson." Gairwyn gingerly stepped forward. "Form a line and follow my path exactly. Do not deviate for any reason, and do not alter your altitude by more than a metre."

"Major, on our six. Osric, get right behind me," Carter ordered. Then she slung her rifle and followed Gairwyn into the temporal maze, trusting the Asgard-trained Cimmerian to lead them through.

* * *

"You say that these Ori are possessed of god-like abilities, and yet they are not gods?" Osric asked as they pushed through the thick, wet brush of the forest.

"No, they're very powerful beings who would have their followers believe as much because faith is the source of their power," Daniel replied.

"We never mentioned anything about god-like abilities," Major Roberts whispered over the comm.

"Faith is something that cannot be won through intimidation and fear," Osric countered. "If their followers have faith, then they must truly believe."

Daniel shook his head. "No, they only believe because they've been mislead. See, to many less developed civilizations, certain advanced technologies would strike them as supernatural in nature."

"Merlin was not a wizard, and Morgan Le Fay was not a sorceress," Luthan told him. "They were simply people who belonged to a race with technology far beyond your own."

"Ridiculous!" Osric dismissed.

"I knew them," Luthan pressed in response. "I am one of the last of that race. I knew Merlin as Moros, a _politician_. The one you call Morgan Le Fay was Ganos Lal, a computer engineer. Simply because you do not understand a phenomenon does _not_ mean it cannot be understood."

"You've never even seen the Ori," Roberts added. "Why are you defending them?"

"Hardly! I condemn the actions of their soldiers, but am in no position to judge the Ori or their message. Not yet. Truth is elusive to those who refuse to see with both eyes."

Roberts rolled her eyes and disabled her external speakers. "If this guy isn't hiding anything, then I'm not a member of the human race."

"Agreed," Carter replied. Suddenly, Vala bolted off in front of them.

"Wait, Vala! Stop!" She gave chase with the rest of the team behind her, forcing her way through the underbrush.

"I found-" Vala began, but was cut off by an orange force field materializing around them. "...treasure?"

"It's not treasure," Daniel corrected her, examining the empty chest. "It's a trap. You took the bait."

"Well, it's not my fault!" Vala argued. "I simply went for what I thought would have something to do with what we're looking for."

"What?"

"Well, it does have _something_ to do with what we're looking for," Daniel replied.

"See?" Vala said, beaming. "I'm useful."

"Can't we just shoot our way out?" a member of the group asked.

Gairwyn shook her armoured head. "I could, but it would result in your immolation."

"Okay, let's think this through," Daniel said, deep in thought. "The Parchment of Virtues told us that we'd have to rely on five things in order to reach the Sangraal: prudence, wisdom, charity, kindness, and faith."

"We were able to make our way through the time dilation field by patiently and carefully negotiating the maze," Daniel continued. "In other words, we demonstrated prudence as opposed to recklessness, which would have stranded us."

"What does this trap exploit?" Vala asked. "Curiosity?"

"Greed," Daniel cut off. "A person approaches a chest expecting to find treasure inside but instead finds nothing and gets trapped for his trouble."

"So in order to reverse the trap, you have to reverse the impetus."

"Right. The opposite of greed is charity, one of the virtues mentioned in the parchment."

"Instead of taking something, something must be sacrificed," Teal'c concluded.

Daniel pulled a pen from his pocket, dropped it into the chest, and closed it. Nothing happened.

Vala clapped him on the back. "Well, that was an interesting theory."

Daniel shook his head. "We're all trapped, so we all have to contribute something."

"All right, everyone needs to give something up," Carter ordered. "Preferably nothing essential."

One by one, a hat, a notebook, a map, two MREs, a ring, a dagger, a pair of pens, and a handful of energy bars were dropped into the chest. Daniel shut the lid, and the field came down.

"Alright, let's get moving."

* * *

"According to the map, the Sangraal is hidden in a cave beneath a lone mountain," Osric informed, pointing. Ahead of the group was a clearing, with a large, craggy mountain visible in the distance.

"Getting anomalous energy readings," Carter said. "Looks like there's something advanced down there."

"The signature does appear to be Ancient," Luthan added.

Roberts clapped the local on the back. "Right, looks like we're getting warmer."

* * *

"This is it!" Osric said excitedly. He climbed over a log and pointed to a hole in the side of the mountain (although it felt more like a hill). "This is the cave entrance! The Sangraal is located within."

"It's too bad you won't be coming with us." Daniel raised his weapon, and the rest of the group followed suit.

"Have you lost your senses?" Osric protested, shocked.

"Truth eludes he who does not seek it with both eyes wide," Daniel quoted. "That's a quote from the Book of Origin. You paraphrased it earlier today. Now I might not have noticed, but I spent the past year studying the good book, so…"

"Surely you're not basing your suspicions on this mere _coincidence_?"

"And when it came time to give up a possession to free ourselves from the forcefield trap, I noticed the designs on your ring," Daniel responded. "Not Celtic as one might expect given the cultural background of this planet, but distinctly _Ori_."

"The ring was a gift from a traveling merchant!" Osric retorted angrily. "You're making a mistake!"

Gairwyn suddenly added, "We detected anomalous energy readings that seemed to be coming from you. My suit's microframe has been analyzing the data ever since we left the village. It has come to three conclusions- the energy signature is exceedingly well hidden, consistent with micro-scale holographics, and clearly Ori."

"It must be... a device I received as a gift!"

"Only you should not have known what I just explained," Gairwyn replied. "Your emotional response was one of defence, not perplexity as it should have been. I was of a simple people. I was uplifted. _I would know._"

"You're not who you say you are, now drop the act," Roberts ordered.

"It would have been so much easier if you had remained oblivious," Osric said regretfully. "But now things will be much more difficult."

With a slight shimmer, Osric disappeared, replaced by the smaller figure of a tall woman with piercing blue eyes and blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. The robes disappeared, replaced with a tight leather top with an ornate metal breastplate and pauldrons along with pants tucked into long boots and matching gloves, all in black.

"Orici," Daniel muttered.

"The hell did he just say?"

"Orici," Daniel repeated, a little louder. "We've heard rumours of a beautiful woman with extraordinary powers leading the Ori armies into battle. Guess they're true."

"Well, except for the beauty part," Vala snarked. "Bet she wished she had _my_ beauty."

"Your powers are useless, Orici," Carter told her. "Turn back or we will execute you on the spot."

"Sam!"

"Orders, Daniel."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Colonel Carter." She smirked, producing a strange-looking pistol. "Do you think I would rely on something I know you can defeat?"

"You think that's gonna stop us?" Roberts asked.

"No, but I'm also stronger and faster than you are, and I have a personal shield. A piece of Celestis that I keep with me." She swept her pistol across the group and added, "I think it would end badly for us both if you were to try something dramatic."

As a sign of good faith, she lowered her weapon, and the others followed. She explained, "Morgan put safeguards in place to ensure the weapon could not be secured by my kind. I believe the wording she used was, 'Those possessing truth of spirit'. By the way, I prefer the name Aurelia."

"We have no idea what she's capable of," Daniel said quietly, over comms only.

"Agreed. But if we have an opening, we're taking it," Carter replied. She raised her voice. "We can work together. For now."

* * *

"We thwarted all efforts against us. Crippled your fleet. Met with little if any resistance on the worlds that we redeemed. Opposition to the Ori is clearly hopeless, but you continue to struggle against the inevitable."

Major Roberts trained her rifle and its mounted flashlight around the craggy tunnel. She replied offhand, "A great man once posed the question, 'Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, to be purchased at the price of slavery and oppression?' Do you know what his answer was?"

"Of course," Aurelia replied. "The loss of a few freedoms is a small price to pay for life and peace."

"'Give me liberty or give me death.'"

"Preposterous."

"Look, there are two things you need to know about Earth," Roberts replied, still searching the cave. "One, we're stubborn motherfuckers, but you probably knew that already. Two, we've got a quote or a saying for everything."

"And your response to my argument would be?"

"'Those who would give up liberty for a little security deserve neither liberty nor security.' Benjamin Franklin," she quoted in response. "There's a few different variants of that. One of them implies that those who give up their liberty for safety will lose both."

"Well, I wasn't sure before but I'm fairly certain she's a gun nut _now_," Master Sergeant Lewis whispered behind them.

"As a matter of fact, I _am_ a life member of the NRA," Roberts replied lightly. "And I do not appreciate the term 'gun nut'."

"Right, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am." He switched channels. "No reaction. This Ori lady is good."

"Hold up," Carter ordered as they emerged into an open chamber. Ahead of them was a stone panel set into the cave wall, inscribed with Ancient writing.

Daniel began to translate. "Choose the way-"

"-that is just and true," Luthan finished.

"There are two paths," Sergeant Chazan observed, shining his rifle-mounted light down both tunnels.

"The way that is just and true. The right way." Lewis gestured to the right side of the tunnel.

Roberts groaned. "Sergeant, that is the stupidest thing I have hear all day."

"And why would that be?"

"It's written in _Ancient_," Vala pointed out. "The Ancient word for right as in that direction probably sounds nothing like the Ancient word for right as in correct."

"Well-" He paused. "Did you hear that?"

Carter listened, hearing a faint crying sound. She adjusted her acoustic tracker. "Sounds like a child. It's coming from the left side."

"A child in here?" Vala asked as they headed down the path. "It's obviously a trap."

"Or quite possibly a test," Daniel replied.

Spotting a small boy, perhaps five years old, Carter shouted, "Hey, wait up!"

The boy ducked behind a rock, and they chased him deeper into the cave system. Aurelia protested, "We're walking right into a trap!"

Daniel shook his head. "No, we're not. The parchment provided us with clues to reaching the Sangraal. It mentioned kindness as one of the virtues that would guide us."

"If we show kindness by helping this child it should bring us one step closer to the device," Gairwyn remarked. "Clearly, we-"

She was cut off by the clanking of metal on metal, followed by a crashing noise. The emerged into a widened area, with the child at the other end and a portcullis between them. The child appeared to be very frightened and was crying.

"Hang on, kid, we'll get you out of there," Melissa reassured him.

"Your kindness is unnecessary. It is a hologram," Luthan mentioned. "I believe you are correct, Doctor Jackson. This was indeed a test."

Aurelia shook her head. "We're wasting our time. Let's go back."

Suddenly, Gairwyn waved her armoured arm, and the gate disappeared. She looked at them, a perplexed expression hidden beneath her helmet. "I honestly did not expect that to work."

"What did you do?" Aurelia asked, hiding her shocked expression.

"I dematerialized the gate," she replied casually. "I was expecting it to be a shaped energy field, not actual matter."

"Well, that was certainly convenient."

The boy smiled before disappearing, the passage opening behind him.

"It's a dead end," Vala stated.

There was nowhere to go. They had emerged into another more open cave, this time with only one entrance. Carter shook her head. "No, it doesn't make any sense that we would have progressed this far only to come up empty."

"No, it isn't." Daniel illuminated a stone panel inset into the rock with his flashlight. "It's another riddle."

"Oh, goody!" Vala nearly bowled Carter over getting to Daniel's side, the sudden redistribution of several hundred kilograms of weight causing the cave to shake beneath them, dust dropping from the ceiling.

Daniel translated, "_I'm struck and cut, shaped and cooled, then bound by rings to release what's stored._"

The rumbling continued, small rocks now dropping from the ceiling. Carter shouted, "That's not seismic instability, it's part of the test! Better hurry it up, Daniel!"

"All right, well, we have to think it through," Vala said. "What's struck and cut, and shaped and cooled, and then bound by rings?"

"It's a key!" Lewis shouted. "The answer is key!"

"Uh, _clavia_!" Daniel shouted, and the panel disappeared. The quaking continued as they ran down the next passage. Again, their way was blocked by an engraved panel.

"_I shake the earth with booming thunder, fell forests whole and homes complete! I influence ships, topple kings, sweep down swift yet remain unseen!_" Daniel hurriedly translated.

"Oh wait, I've got this," Vala replied. "Uh, it's suggesting a strong yet invisible force… Uh…"

"_Ventio_!" Luthan shouted, and the wall disappeared, opening the passage. The shaking continued- in fact, it seemed to be getting worse.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Roberts shouted as they reached another blockage.

"_Battle-scarred in time of strife_-"

"_Contagia_!" Luthan shouted. The panel disappeared and the rumbling stopped.

They paused to take a breather. Daniel asked him, "How did you get that so quickly?"

Luthan shrugged. "Ganos Lal wrote many articles during her time on Atlantis. In preparation for this mission I read several of them and noticed she gravitated toward several distinctive turns of phrase. I'm afraid most of them do not translate well."

"We should move forward," Aurelia insisted, and they headed down the newly opened passage.

"Is that just me, or is that-"

"A wall of fire?" Vala replied, voicing what was basically the same thought everyone had. A roaring, rippling wall of flame stood in their way.

Carter replied, "I was going to say an increase in ambient temperature, but now that you mention it... yeah. This could be problematic."

"How so?" Aurelia asked them.

"I can't tell how thick it is or even the nature of those flames. If it's close to a flat plane, and it's just fire, an unprotected human could probably jump or run through it. If it's any type of liquid fuel, though, like a flamethrower, it'll stick to you and burn you to death. If it's not very thick, then we should still be okay in our suits, but everything we're carrying outside will be burnt to a crisp. If it's incredibly thick, our thermal systems fail and we burn to death."

"In other words, I hope that personal shield of yours is good," Vala prodded, leaning toward the Orici.

"So, we look for another way around." Aurelia asked, ignoring Vala's jibe and moving away from her. "A way to deactivate it, a hidden passage."

Daniel shook his head. "We made all the right choices to lead us to this point. I know the Sangraal lies beyond that wall of fire. We just have to find a way through."

"It is simple," Gairwyn said cryptically, and stepped into the flames. As soon as she made contact, they shimmered and disappeared, revealing another passage. "One must simply have faith."

"Faith," Daniel muttered. "Of course. The Parchment told us that five virtues would guide us in our quest for the Sangraal. Prudence, kindness, charity, wisdom, and faith. We displayed prudence in finding a way out of the temporal maze, charity in escaping the forcefield trap, kindness by helping the child and finding the hidden passageway, and wisdom in solving the riddles.

"The only virtue left is faith. By stepping into the fire, you demonstrated faith that you wouldn't be burned."

They continued down a short distance, emerging into a gigantic underground chamber. A thin bridge of stone connected the platform they had emerged onto to another in the middle of the chamber, a brilliant red jewel on a pedestal beckoning them forward. The ceiling was a long way up, and the floor a long way down.

They stood speechless for a moment before Daniel finally broke the silence, quietly. "There it is. The Sangraal. What we've been looking for."

He paused and turned to Carter. "I'll go."

"We both go," Aurelia insisted.

"It would be best if we all went," Luthan suggested. "Or, as I am an Ancient, I will go, if you prefer."

"No," Aurelia pressed threateningly. "I will go with Daniel. The rest of you will stay."

"Be careful," Carter cautioned. Daniel nodded and gestured Aurelia toward the stone bridge. "Ladies first."

She smirked. "I think not."

Daniel sighed and stepped forward. The craggy bridge was rough and narrow, but sturdy beneath his feet. Aurelia followed carefully two paces behind. Unlike Daniel, who had jump jets, if she fell, it would be over.

At the end of the path, beyond the glowing stone, was another pillar bearing a plaque decorated with a blue diamond-shaped jewel and Ancient text. Aurelia scanned it, and then turned to Daniel. "Take it."

Daniel glared daggers at her, and then tried to grab the jewel. His hand passed right through it. A hologram. "Well, I guess I'm not as true of spirit as you thought I was."

Before he even finished his sentence, a loud rumbling began resonating through the cavern, now shaking beneath their feet. Dust and debris fell from above, and the entrance they had came through slammed shut behind them.

"We're trapped!" Luthan shouted as Daniel and Aurelia came running across the bridge. A loud screech echoed through the chamber. "What was that?"

"We agreed there's no such thing as a dragon, right?" Vala asked as what sounded like flapping wings drew closer. A large, scaly grey beast came into view and hovered in front of them. It screeched at them as it flapped its wings hard, staying in the air.

"It's not a real dragon," Luthan insisted.

"Well it looks pretty real to me," Vala replied.

The dragon breathed in deep and exhaled, sending a roaring flame in their direction. Eleven personal shields flared as the flames engulfed the group.

"That was _definitely_ real!" Vala shouted.

"Down!" Carter ordered. The dragon swung around, it's tail passing over their heads and slamming into the wall behind them. The door crumbled and collapsed, opening the exit. "Move out!"

They wasted no time, bolting through the now open portal and into the jagged passageway. Vala assured them, "Well, I think he's too big to fit through the opening, so I think we're safe."

A wall of flame erupted into the tunnel, moving fast toward them. "Or not!"

"Move!" Carter shouted. The group bolted up the tunnels, away from the rapidly approaching flames. They weaved around a bend, the flames moving straight and petering out rather than turning the sharp corner.

"Is that a-" Vala asked, pointing to a sliver of light visible from one of the tunnels.

"Indeed," Teal'c confirmed, his warrior senses confirming what his HUD readout indicated. "There appears to be an exit this way."

They emerged back into the grassy clearing, coming to a halt outside the wide exit they came through. Immediately, Aurelia insisted, "We have to go back inside. The dragon is the final test, the weapon must be in there!"

"That would be-" There was a loud crumbling and a series of screeches as the dragon broke through the top of the mountain and began heading down toward them.

"Get to the treeline!" Carter shouted, raising her battle rifle. "Defensive positions! Hit that thing with everything we've got!"

Taking cover behind boulders and trees, they opened fire on the dragon. Carter slung her battle rifle and brought up her M700, sending bolts of plasma toward the creature. A mixture of battle rifle and GPMG fire erupted from the treeline. Aurelia raised a pair of pistols and pulsed the triggers, blue energy bolts streaking toward the dragon.

Via the neural interface implanted into the back of her neck, Gairwyn powered her suit's combat systems. She jumped, and her antigrav units instantly reacted to her movement, propelling her into the air, level with the dragon and strafing in a circle around it. On each of her forearms was a pair of powerful plasma blasters. Deuterium gas was injected into a small chamber, compressed to the point of fusion, and ejected at extreme velocity. The appearance of the resulting plasma bolts was completely different from that of Goa'uld or Ori weapons- there was a bright flash visible as the plasma streaked through the atmosphere followed microseconds later by another on impact. Depending on the power setting, her blasters could immolate a Jaffa or obliterate an armoured vehicle in one hit.

As soon as the first bolts hit, she knew that the dragon wasn't really there. The sensor readings of the weapon impacts were consistent with plasma interacting with shaped energy fields, not a physical object or conventional shield. Seconds later, a missile hit the dragon, its explosion passing straight through. That confirmed her suspicion.

"It's a hologram!" Gairwyn told them through the linked comm system. "Conventional weapons are ineffective."

"How ineffective?" Carter shouted.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the microframe in Gariwyn's suit ran the calculations, coming up with estimates in under a second. At the same time, she rolled and accelerated to avoid a burst of fire. "If we continue to attack with directed energy weapons, the energy field will eventually destabilize. Perhaps seven to eight minutes of sustained firing."

"No!" Daniel shouted. "If we do that we circumvent the test and we may never be able to get the Sangraal."

"Do you have a better idea?" Carter asked, taking cover as her weapon vented heat.

"Okay, okay," Daniel replied, crouching behind a charred tree. "It is said that 'the Sangraal shall instead belong to he who speaks the guardian's name.' The guardian's name..."

"So what do we do, just start guessing?" Lewis asked.

"Darrel, the dragon," Vala suggested.

"How about Smokey?"

"Something epic sounding, like Alduin."

"Perhaps Puff?" Teal'c suggested as a burst of fire breath set tree branches and underbrush alight.

"Think quickly, I will distract it," Gairwyn told them. She slid sideways into a hover, directly in front of the dragon. Ignoring the flames that engulfed her shielded suit, she opened fire with all four blasters at once, at max power. That got the dragon's attention. She zipped upwards, and the dragon flapped its wings ferociously to follow.

"He who speaks the Guardian's name," Daniel muttered. "Who speaks the Guardian's name-"

"The Guardian is a _dragon_." Vala told him, unhelpfully.

"No, the Guardian is not a dragon," Daniel replied, the pieces clicking together in his head. "The Guardian is the person who set this whole thing up. The Guardian is-"

"Ganos Lal!" Luthan shouted, and as soon as he did so, the dragon disappeared.

"So, what now?" Vala asked as the group headed back into the clearing. The edge of the forest was still smouldering, but there wasn't a lot they could do about that.

"We try again," Daniel said simply, leading them back into the tunnels, the way they exited. "Since we passed the final test, we should be able to retrieve the Sangraal."

They retraced their steps, heading down the still-hot rocky passageways and back into the large chamber. Miraculously, the bridge had not collapsed, and this time they all crossed it and stood beside their goal.

"It's real this time, right?" Vala asked impatiently as they examined the Sangraal for the second time.

"I don't see why not," Daniel replied. He took a deep breath and attempted to retrieve the perfectly round gem again. Like the last time, his hand simply passed through.

"Oh, come on!"

Suddenly, the blue stone in the pedestal began to glow, and all except Aurelia disappeared.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

They reappeared in another cavern, this one much smaller. Automatically, several torches lit up, illuminating their surroundings. It appeared medieval, with an old chair and wooden tables, scrolls and old books. What was definitely not medieval, however, was the Ancient Repository in the wall or the console in the centre of the room.

"Okay, what just happened?" Vala asked.

"I think we were transported into another chamber," Carter said, examining the room.

"Not simply another chamber," Gairwyn told them. "This is a different world entirely."

"Hey, the Ori bitch didn't come with us," Roberts observed.

"It is likely a security measure, preventing some types of advanced humans from coming here," Luthan informed. "I do not know the specifics, but it is possible to distinguish between Ori influence and that of other higher races. That is why Gairwyn, despite her heavy augmentations, was not affected."

"Aren't you guys the same race? How do you tell between Ancient descendent and Ori descendent?" she asked.

"Millions of years of genetic drift."

"Uh, does anyone see a Sangraal around here?" Vala asked, interrupting them.

"No, I don't," Daniel replied. "Which begs the question- what was she protecting?"

"I think I know," Carter interrupted, pointing to an alcove in the wall. Encased what appeared to be ice was an old, silver-haired man.

Translating an inscription beside it, Daniel said, "_Here lies Myrddin, Archmage of the Round._"

"That is High Councilor Moros!" Luthan exclaimed, taken aback. He gently touched the 'ice'. "I see you have not aged well, honourable one."

"How long has he been in stasis, do you think?" Melissa asked quietly.

"Well over a thousand years," Daniel replied.

"Any idea how to get him out?"

"It's probably controlled by the Ancient Repository over there," Carter surmised. As the 'ice' began to recede and expose the Ancient, she quickly added. "Or maybe it's automatic."

"Major!" Carter called as Merlin began to stumble forward. She quickly grabbed him, supporting him under one arm.

"I've got him," she replied, taking the other. They half-walked, half-carried him to a dusty table and carefully laid him on top.

Merlin coughed, blinking, before closing his eyes once more.

"Oh, he did not just-"

"No, he's still alive, though weak," Luthan assured him. "The effects of such a period in stasis may take some time to dissipate."

"In the meantime, we should find out what's out there," Carter said. She motioned toward the exit. "Major, take your team and scout the area. See if you can find a Stargate. Don't send a subspace signal, not yet. I don't want to give away our position."

"Understood, ma'am."

"Gairwyn, do you mind joining them?"

"Of course not, Major Carter," the Cimmerian warrior said before following the other SG team out of the cave.

* * *

"Well, I can't put my finger on it, but something seems a little different."

The humour lost on her, Lieutenant Brown glared at her commander and said, "You think? It's a fucking _desert_!"

They emerged on a ledge a few metres above the ground, which in this case was fine desert sand. The stargate was directly ahead, a tall stone obelisk between them. Dunes rolled gently in the distance, and the sun cast a bright yellow glow on everything.

"Good news is, we know where the stargate is," Melissa said positively, carefully stepping down toward the sand. It was easier said than done with the amount of gear she was carrying. "Gairwyn, any idea where we are?"

"No," she replied. "It appears something is interfering with subspace signals."

"So, what do you think?"

"Regarding?" Gairwyn asked.

She pointed to the obelisk. "That."

"I believe it may be involved with our arrival here. Likely, the gate was activated remotely, and we were beamed through the wormhole."

"So we should be able to dial out and go home?" Melissa asked, stepping onto the sand. She sunk in up to her shins. "Damn it!"

As she struggled to remove her heavy pack and place it onto the stable rocks, she asked, "Do you think the Ori could detect the gate activating?"

"I doubt it."

"Good," she replied, firing her jumpjets briefly to pull herself out of the sand. A cloud formed around her, stirred up by the brief pulse. She trudged toward the DHD. "Then let's try it."

Melissa quickly entered the Alpha Site's address. When she attempted to enter the last glyph, the DHD lights went out. She tried again to be sure, and again nothing happened. "Crap. Gairwyn, can you try your direct dialler?"

"No success," Gairwyn replied after a moment, shaking her head. "It appears I am locked out."

"Shit. We're stuck here."

* * *

"You say the DHD's been tampered with somehow?" Carter asked for confirmation.

"Yes, ma'am. It's locked. We can't dial out." There was a pause. "Gairwyn says she thinks she can fix it."

"I'll send Luthan out to help-"

"Colonel! I believe he is waking up!" Luthan called from beside Merlin.

"Hold that thought, Major," Carter finished, striding over to the table. Daniel helped the old man slowly sit up.

"Where am I?" he asked in exactly the same voice as the holograms they had encountered briefly. There was a surge of excitement in the room, which was instantly suppressed. They had to finish the mission, then they could celebrate.

"Good question," Carter muttered offhand.

"You look familiar." The old man stared at her, gingerly stepping forward. He drew her into an awkward hug. "Guinevere! Oh my dear, it's been too long."

She coughed. "Uh, it's good to see you, too."

He turned back to Daniel. "Galahad! Oh, brave knights! Fortune indeed does smile upon me to see your faces again."

"High Councilor Moros," Luthan interrupted in Ancient. "They are not the Knights of the Round Table. A thousand or more years have passed, and the Ori have returned. I can explain later but we must leave as soon as possible."

Merlin looked perplexed, but the shock was evident in his voice. "I have not been High Councilor for a very long time."

"We need you to _remember_. About the Sangraal. About Ganos Lal, about the Ori and about how you got _here_."

"Tell me more," Merlin said simply, sitting down on a creaky chair.

"My name is Luthan. I was chief scientist aboard the _Tria_- a vessel thought lost during the war with the Wraith. In actuality, we were stranded between galaxies, travelling at nearly the speed of light."

"Tens of thousands of years, but to you, it would seem far shorter," Merlin replied in Ancient, slowly and unsurely but beginning to catch on.

"We were discovered by a ship built and operated by the humans of Earth. They have taken to the stars, discovered the Astria Porta, and are currently occupying Atlantis."

"Atlantis? What of the Wraith?"

"They _were_ fighting the Wraith, but circumstances have changed. The Wraith are now allied with the humans against the Ori."

Merlin shook his head. "The Wraith, siding with us?"

"Technically, only the humans. They do not yet know of our existence. Believe it or not the machines have once again developed and they are also sided with the humans against the Ori."

"These times are strange indeed."

"We are fighting a total war- cities are being destroyed from orbit or with weapons of mass destruction, civilians are being killed indiscriminately, armies are annihilating each other. The allied fleets are decimated. You _know_ what is at stake-"

"You need not convince me, young one," Merlin snapped. "What do you suggest we do?"

"The Ori are likely tracking us as we speak," Carter urged them, unable to understand their conversation. "We need to leave as soon as possible. Does- does he know where the weapon is?"

"I don't think it's here, Sam," Daniel told her.

"What?" Vala asked.

"I'm starting to think that maybe Morgan did destroy the Sangraal after all," Daniel explained. "I mean, she probably figured she had no choice. That if she didn't do it, the other Ancients would have just sent someone else. Instead, she preserved the one man capable of building it again."

"You would be correct," Merlin replied, standing up. "The Sangraal no longer exists. I can, however, rebuild it."

"What do you need?"

He shook his head. "No, you would never be able to recreate it. Not with your level of technology."

"We have access to Atlantis," Luthan reminded him. "There are Ancient scientists and engineers among us. With your plans and knowledge, we can build it again."

"I need at least the Repository," Merlin replied. "And the fabricator platform- what you thought was a table. They are not the same as the earlier versions on Atlantis."

"Colonel Carter, would it be possible to remove some of the larger contents of this lab?" Luthan asked.

"Yeah, if someone disabled the subspace jammers, we could send a tightbeam signal with a very low probability of intercept. One of our ships could swing by and pick us up in a matter of hours, depending on where we are."

"Then perhaps there is more than one final task," Merlin said cryptically, standing up.

* * *

**P9X-749**

Aurelia very quickly realized that getting away would be far harder than she realized.

She couldn't simply disguise herself again and waltz back into the village. Even if she used a different disguise, the soldiers knew she could change her appearance at will. They had set up guard posts at every entrance to the town, allowing no one in or out.

Her next thought was to sneak inside. Unfortunately, they had flying machines and sensors that could pick her up, even when cloaked. She knew that, too.

Her powers were suppressed by some kind of blanket field (no doubt created by the humans!), and even with her personal shield and two pistols there was no way she would be able to take on even the gate guard. If it was a few soldiers, maybe, but they had rolled in their crawlers and had dozens of soldiers around the gate.

So she found a quiet spot, biding her time and waiting for an opening.

Waiting was not something she was good at.

* * *

**AES Odyssey**

"Sir, we're receiving a message from Earth."

"What kind of message, Lieutenant?" Colonel Paul Emerson asked, feigning disinterest. He knew that with the way things were going, it was probably bad. They'd received several messages since deploying, and most of them were things like 'x planet has fallen to the Ori' or 'x army has been defeated by the Ori'.

"New orders, sir!" the Lieutenant replied. He had a noticeable accent- it was German or Swedish or Norwegian or something. He never had a good ear for accents, and wished they still had the handy flag patches. "We are to proceed to these coordinates at once and extract SG-1 as well as an HVI and some specialized equipment. Speed is critical."

"Navigator, plot a course." He keyed the comm system. "All stations, secure for hyperspace transit."

Nodding to the pilot, he told him, "Engage when ready."

* * *

**Unknown Location**

"It is done," Merlin told them, stepping back from the Repository. "Your starship must come quickly. We are now vulnerable."

"How so?" Daniel asked.

"The obelisk you saw outside moves this entire laboratory between planets at regular intervals. That system has now been disabled. Your ship will be able to find us, but so will the Ori."

"So, in other words, a race against time."

"No. A race against the Ori."

* * *

**P9X-749**

Waiting turned out to be the best option. It made sense. The humans had found what they came for and left. As suddenly as they had arrived, they packed up and headed out through the gate.

They left a few people behind, maybe a handful in the village and four guarding the stargate. No doubt they were trying to undo the damage done by their arrival. Such foolishness.

Aurelia quietly approached the stargate, crawling through the bush. As she reached the edge of the bush, she drew her pistols.

"Contact right!" She overheard one of them saying.

"Fuck, think she's still here?"

"I am," she said quietly before opening fire. Bursts of energy erupted from her pistols, streaking toward the defenders. They quickly took cover and returned fire with their crude projectile weapons, which had little effect on her shields.

Aurelia broke into a run, bolting toward the DHD and continuing to pulse the triggers on her pistols as fast as she could. Her goal wasn't to kill the soldiers guarding the gate- merely to distract them.

Holstering one pistol, she continued firing with one hand and worked the DHD with the other. In a matter of seconds, she extracted the last address from the device. It took only seven more seconds to dial out to a world entirely controlled by the Ori. She was running toward the event horizon when a sudden impact knocked her off her feet.

"Gotcha!" a deep voice shouted, one of the heavy armoured soldiers pinning her down.

"I don't think so." Pushing the man off slightly, she raised her pistol and fired point blank several times in rapid succession. It very quickly tore through his shields and blew a hole through his torso, the blast going through both sides of the armour. With a mighty heave, she pushed the corpse off and ran through the gate.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

"Ugh, could this get any more boring?" Vala asked nobody in particular. "We've been waiting here for hours!"

"Vala!" Daniel hissed. "That man has waited thousands of years, and you're complaining about a few hours!"

"Time is relative, isn't it?" Vala retorted. "Besides, he was asleep the whole time!"

She paused momentarily, then added, "These suits are equipped with advanced computers, correct?"

"Yes, Vala," Daniel replied, exasperated.

"Well, then why don't they put games on them? It would make this far more tolerable." Another contemplative pause. "In fact, everyone's going to have a computer they can fit in their pocket soon anyway. Whenever you're bored, you just whip it out and play some games!"

"Vala, I seriously doubt people are going to be putting computers in their pockets any time soon," Daniel chided. "At least, not on Earth."

"Why not? You have the technology."

"We have the technology to build flying cars, but you don't see those flying around everywhere," Daniel explained. "Now, it's been a dream of ours for the better part of a century, but we realized it's simply not practical. We have terrible accidents in two dimensions- think of the chaos we'd have in three. And more importantly, it's just way too expensive right now. The same goes for pocket computers."

"You can't crash a pocket computer. Well, not literally, anyway."

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea, Vala, just that nobody's going to go for it. If there's one thing I've learned it's that we're a stubborn bunch, and we only change our ways if we really, really have to."

"Come on, Daniel! Okay, picture this," Vala said, trying again. "You're on the metro, a long boring ride hours and hours long. Instead of being bored, falling asleep and ending up mugged, you pull this sleek little slate out of your pocket. You can play some games, make video calls, watch a motion picture, maybe even do some business.

"And you know what would make a great game? Flinging birds at wooden structures to kill green pigs!"

"Vala! How do you come up with something so... that doesn't even make any sense!"

"Okay, how about a game where you build in a world made up entirely out of large cubes? Or defending a house from the undead using plants? Feeding an adorable little monster by cutting ropes? Running through old ruins, jumping over obstacles? Surely you'd like _that_ one, Daniel. It's all archaeological and stuff."

"Look, I'm all for creativity, but seriously, Vala, Earth humans don't think like that." Daniel replied, trying to let her down gently. "Those ideas are just too _out there_."

She pouted. "Well, fine. When is the Odyssey going to get here?"

"Shouldn't be too long now, maybe a matter of minutes-"

* * *

"Colonel, the gate just activated," Major Roberts informed over the comm system. There was little cover on the desert world- she crouched just inside the cave mouth.

"Take defensive positions," Carter ordered.

"We've got company!" Roberts shouted as the first Ori troops came through the gate. She pulled back on the trigger and felt it break, slamming the firing pin into the primer and sending a slug of lead, copper and steel through the skull of an Ori warrior.

The rest of them quickly opened fire, cutting down the stream of Ori warriors pouring through the stargate. Gruesomely, bodies began to pile up, and the newly arrived warriors had to push them out of the way to clear the event horizon.

"Yeah! You really thought it would be that fucking easy?"

"Stay focused," Roberts ordered, quickly swapping out the magazines on her battle rifle. "We don't know what tricks they have up their sleeves."

As if on queue, the flow of cannon fodder warriors stopped, and a single woman stepped through. Aurelia. A barrage of weapons fire was absorbed by her shield. "Move aside. I desire only the Sangraal."

"You shall not pass," Gairwyn stated, voice steely. She glided down between Aurelia and the cave mouth. She raised her shields to full power and activated her plasma blasters. Ori warriors began moving through under Aurelia's protection and engaging SG-114.

"You cannot oppose me, bastard child of the Asgard," Aurelia taunted, raising her pistols. "You fight against the Ori for the Asgard, yet it is the Asgard who corrupted you. It is the Asgard who you should be fighting."

"I am not corrupted. I was chosen and chose to accept the offer given to me," Gairwyn fired a few plasma blasts to test Aurelia's shields. They held strong.

"An offer to serve your gods? A bit hypocritical, is it not?" Aurelia snapped back, pulsing the triggers on her pistols.

The Valkyrie deftly dodged, a few blasts scraping her shields. "Thor showed me the truth of his race, of my race, and of the greater galaxy. I chose of my own accord, knowing exactly what it would entail."

"And then what? They bind you in a pact of service?" A few more shots of plasma, again absorbed by Aurelia's shields.

"No. I may be a weapon of war forged by the Asgard, but I am no slave," A more intense barrage of energy blasts impacted Gairwyn's shields. "If I choose, I can leave. There will be no consequence. I choose to fight for what is right, what I believe in, and the very survival of my people."

"Noble words," Aurelia noted, blocking a barrage of plasma with her own shields. "Unfortunately, they will be your last."

Before she could respond, Gairwyn and SG-114 disappeared.

* * *

**AES Odyssey**

"Do we have them?" Colonel Emerson asked.

"Yes, sir," the transport officer replied. "SG-1 attached beacons to the HVI and his equipment. That made beaming them out a lot easier."

"Good. Now let's make sure there's nothing left to find. Weps, four OG-9s, fire when ready."

"Missiles away, sir." Four slender cylinders erupted from VLS tubes on pillars of flame, arcing toward the planet. The engines quickly burned out, leaving gravity as the only force pulling them down. Halfway through the atmosphere, moving at hypersonic speeds, the missiles blew apart- or at least appeared to blow apart. Twenty-four tungsten rods, six per missile, continued toward their targets.

By the time they hit the ground, they had about as much energy as a nuclear bomb- but almost entirely kinetic. The effects were different, but arguably just as devastating. The artificial mountain housing Merlin's laboratory was completely obliterated, leaving only a crater in its wake.

"Target destroyed, it's-" the sensor officer paused. "Sir, picking up an Ori battleship on long-range scanners. Closing fast."

"We've got what we came here for, let's not be around to meet them. Get us out of here, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Yes, I just _had_ to put the Skyrim reference in.

For those of you wondering about Luthan's address of Merlin as "honourable one", it's similar in meaning to "your honour" and related to the titles of "Honourable" and "Right Honourable" - used for those in important positions of government, courts, and society.

OG-9s are kinetic impactors, similar to Rods from God. Look it up.

I had some fun writing this chapter, and I ended up with something way better than expected. I wish I could promise more awesome chapters, but I can't. One bridge chapter is coming up, then two to three ending chapters, and one epilogue chapter. All will be short and crappy.


	12. The More Things Change

Don't expect quality _or_ quantity here. I think it's pretty narmy, actually.

* * *

**SGD 3x12 The More Things Change  
March 3, 2006  
SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

"Look, I know you've been sleeping for God knows how long, and I hate to rush you, but I've got the brass breathing down my neck asking when they're going to get their superweapon."

"Jack!" Before allowing the two to meet, Daniel had carefully explained Merlin to Jack and Jack to Merlin,and hoped that his friend wouldn't offend the Ancient.

"It will be ready when it is ready," Merlin replied, nonplussed. "I must travel to Atlantis to complete the device."

"What does it do, exactly?" the General asked, bracing for a Carter-style technical explanation.

Instead, Merlin simply shook his head. "Not what you wish, I am afraid."

"What do you mean by that?" Daniel asked.

"The Sangraal destroys the Ori themselves. It is a weapon capable of harming ascended beings. It will have no effect on the fleets currently occupying your galaxy. In fact, it may make them more furious in their assault."

"So you're saying we're still just as screwed?"

"I did not say that. The destruction of the Ori themselves is important beyond your own existence, if you forgive me saying so."

"Hey, down here in the mortal plane, we're hurting. This is all we've got."

"I understand. There is a different device that may be of some use."

"Oh for crying out loud!"

Merlin could see that the man was weighed heavily with responsibility, and ignored the outburst. "It is called Armeria Verimas- the Ark of Truth. It is a device that imparts the truth of the Ori to any who look upon it."

"Great. Where is it?"

"That... is the problem. It was built long before my time, before we even arrived in this galaxy. The records are not exact, but we can infer what occurred all that time ago. Our ancestors decided that the device could never be used, as it would violate the free will that was the core belief of our society."

He sighed. "Because of this, they decided to leave it behind."

There was a gasp and a pause. Slowly, Jack replied, "You mean you left it in the Ori galaxy?"

"I am afraid so."

* * *

**White House**

"So we're back to square one," President Henry Hayes summarized, handing General Hammond a glass of fine bourbon whiskey.

"Not necessarily, Mister President," Hammond replied, taking the glass. "Merlin is confident he can build the anti-Ori device, and we now know of a weapon that could defeat their armies."

Hayes stood up, staring out the large bulletproof window of his office. "You know, if someone told me I would be standing here complaining that Merlin the Magician could give us a weapon that could destroy immortal beings but we needed something more conventional to fight a war against an intergalactic religious empire, I would have laughed in your face. Then I probably would have had you institutionalized."

The General remained silent, so he continued. "Yet every day we step closer to extinction. We don't have a lot of allies left in this galaxy. They're coming for Earth. What are our options, George?"

Hammond sighed a weary sigh. "There are a lot of things we could try, but it basically boils down into three different options. The first would be to continue what we are doing, and do as much damage to the Ori as we can wherever they may be. The second would be to pull inwards and assume a defensive posture, putting all our resources into defending Earth exclusively. The third would be to gather our fleets, kick in the Ori's door and hope like hell we can deploy the Ark of Truth before they get to Earth."

"What do you think, George?"

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. We've managed to inflict some damage on the Ori with what we've been doing, but not a hell of a lot. If we broke out the big guns- that would be weapons of mass destruction, sir- then we could hurt the Ori quite a bit more, at least on the ground. Of course our allies won't like that. The Ori fleets, however, will still crush ours in any sort of engagement.

"If we defended Earth and only Earth we would be able to concentrate our numbers, we would have the home field advantage and most importantly we would have the Antarctic defensive platform. Still, I doubt we would be able to bring about a decisive victory or even prevent the Ori from directly attacking terrestrial targets.

"Whether we can deploy our superweapons- the Sangraal and the Ark- or not depends on timing and that depends on intelligence. I know I sound like a broken record, but at this point, Mister President, intelligence is something we have in short supply. We need to know where to go to find the Ark, where to go to deploy the weapons, and how to go about it. At this point our strategic planners have no idea."

"It's a catch-22," Hayes concluded.

"That it is, sir."

Hayes was silent for a minute, before slowly beginning again. "Let's keep doing what we've been doing for now, at least. The Stargate Council will agree with me- they don't want to change if they don't have to. Hell, some of them probably think we're winning. When the picture firms up a bit, we can reconsider the decision. If we have the advantage, we need to kick the Ori where it hurts."

He took a swig of his own drink. "In the meantime, I'm preparing the United States for an invasion and I'm going to tell the other members of the Council to do the same. The gun control debate is over- hell, we'll subsidize the damn guns. Anyone who wants an assault rifle gets one. We'll bring back the civil defence programs, even mandatory militia training for every able-bodied man and woman. All our manufacturing efforts go into war-critical production, I know we're in that mode already but we both know it's not really happening. I'm authorizing the use of chemical weapons, tactical nukes and kinetic bombardment on populated areas- if necessary bioweapons and bigger nukes too- by US forces on Ori targets. Nobody's going to like what I'm doing, but fuck them."

Ending his tirade, he said quietly, "And I thought the age of paranoia was over. Keep me posted, George."

"Will do, sir."

* * *

**Hebridan**

"Get out of the open! Move, move, move!" Harper shouted, firing her rifle wildly into the approaching Ori warriors. Beside her, the remainder of her squad, along with several TCRCS 'heavies', formed a protective cordon around Miles Hagan and his assistant.

"Where's your ship?" Rynn Ventrell shouted at her. She tossed away an empty magazine and levered a new one into her assault rifle. She aligned the holographic sights and cut down an Ori warrior with a short burst.

"It's coming!" Harper replied, motioning them into what used to be an apartment building. She ignored the staff blast impacting her shields and returning fire with the remainder of her magazine.

"Shit, I'm out," she cursed, retreating through the wrecked doorway.

"Here." One of the TCRCS members, a big guy they nicknamed 'Bruce' (one of the SEALs had slipped and the name stuck), tossed her one of the strange looking Hebridanian SMGs and a few sticks of ammo. It was one of the newer wartime production models- rough around the edges but at least you could get a decent cheek weld.

"Defensive positions," she ordered, moving up the creaky staircase to the second floor. Shouting could be heard from outside and now inside as the Ori warriors charged in through the door- straight into a (rapidly depleting) wall of machine-gun fire. She switched radio channels. "Excavator, do you copy?"

There was no response, and she unleashed a loose burst of fire while retreating up the stairwell. "Excavator, where the hell are you?"

"Piledriver, this is Excavator. Entering atmo now," came a crackly response. "Sorry we're late. Our mothership had to cover the Odyssey's patrol area."

"Better late then never," she replied, taking cover across from Rick behind the casing of the staircase access door. She pulled the trigger and sent a too-long burst into a pair of Ori warriors trying to climb up the stairs. The gun had next to no recoil and, since it used caseless ammo, ejected nothing. "Got an ETA for us?"

"Ninety seconds. Are you able to reach the primary extraction site within that timeframe?"

"That's a negative, Excavator. We're pinned down in an apartment building, under heavy fire." She tossed a grenade- her last one, down the stairwell, and was rewarded with a satisfying boom, a few horrifying screams, and the creaking of the damaged stairs finally collapsing. That would delay them... for a while. "Lock on to our locator beacons and extract us from the roof."

"Affirmative, Piledriver," the voice replied, less crackly and more clear this time. "We'll be right there."

"Make it fast." The Ori warriors were rigging up some kind of ramp, and Harper sent the last few rounds in her magazine down the stairwell to delay them a bit. She awkwardly thumbed the magazine release and forced in another stick of ammo before slamming it shut and pulling the charging handle down in an arc. It took her almost twenty seconds to complete the manoeuvre.

"They're coming up the elevator shaft!" Rynn shouted. As she leaned out to fire, a staff blast caught her in the shoulder. She screamed in pain. "I'm hit!"

"Up the stairs!" Harper ordered. She backpedalled down the hallway toward the staircase going up. The predominant arrangement of Hebridanian buildings allowed them to trash the lower stairs and still get to the roof, but it meant they would have to cross every floor.

"Get up!" Rick shouted at the downed woman. He helped her to her feet, trying not to put too much stress on her injured shoulder.

"You're going to be okay," Rick assured her, helping her up the stairs. The blast had largely been absorbed by the woman's pauldron, which was now melted. At least, it looked that way. "It's not bad."

"It hurts so much!" She bit back tears of pain. She couldn't feel her shoulder, yet it was exploding in pain.

"Just keep moving!" Rick urged. They were nearing the top, but falling behind. With one hand, he drew his M1911 pistol and shot two pursuing warriors, two shots center mass each.

"Piledriver, we're at the LZ, advise you hoof it to the rooftop ASAP!" the pilot shouted over the comm.

"One more floor!" Harper shouted, half-dragging the exhausted Miles Hagan up the final flight of stairs. She picked him up and dashed the last few metres, throwing the once-dignified executive into the back of the waiting A-3.

She covered the rest of the group as they rushed into the craft, taking down a few brave Ori warriors who ventured forth ahead of their brethren. She was now down to her pistol, and cursed as it locked back on an empty magazine. Before she could pull out a fresh one, a sudden impact knocked it out of her hands.

The Ori warrior swung his staff again. Exhausted, she didn't even bother trying to dodge, letting the blow smack into her thick armour. Without thinking, she drew her combat knife and slashed the man's throat. It exploded in a shower of blood, the fluid splashing onto her faceplate and chest rig.

"We've got to go!" She gulped back a wave of nausea and forced herself to run back into the waiting spacecraft. She didn't notice as they took off toward safety, her mind repeating the scene over and over.

* * *

**March 4, 2006  
Atlantis  
**

Slowly and gracefully, Merlin emerged from the stargate. He was dressed in a borrowed Lantean uniform and carried a very out-of-place Earth backpack.

Captain Helia was waiting, along with several of her crew forming the Ancient equivalent of an honour guard. She bowed to the man. "High Councillor Moros. I am Captain Helia formerly of the _Tria_, now of Aquarius. I await your command."

"Do not bow to me," Merlin replied gruffly, returning the gesture. "I have not been High Councillor for thousands of years."

"With respect, there has not been a change in government for thousands of years," Helia replied. "When we left, you were still High Councillor."

"You are the leader of what remains of your people now, High Councillor," Merlin replied, unofficially promoting the Captain, who now had a shocked expression on her face. "I have lived two lifetimes since. I no longer know what your people need or want. My task is simply to create the means to win this war."

"Simply indeed," Helia replied. "Thank you."

With that, Merlin moved past the Ancients toward the human delegation, consisting of one female and two male humans. They didn't bother with the same ceremony. If he understood correctly, they weren't even wearing dress uniforms.

He greeted them. "General Weir. Colonel Sheppard. Doctor McKay."

Elizabeth Weir extended her hand. "Welcome to Atlantis, High Councillor."

"I was High Councillor two lifetimes ago. I am simply Myrddin- Merlin in your language- now."

"Okay. I'm Elizabeth. Once again, I welcome you to our city- well, I suppose it's really _your_ city."

"Not anymore." He turned McKay. "I understand you will assist me in building the device."

"Well, yes, I'm the lead scientist and probably the best scientist here!"

He shook his head. "These tasks are for myself and myself alone. I am afraid there is little for you to do. Perhaps you could move heavy equipment?"

"What- um... that's-"

"You react too easily, Doctor. Lead the way."

* * *

**White House**

"They're not going to like it, Mister President," SecTreas replied to Hayes proposal.

"That's too goddamn bad," the President replied. "A wartime economy of asking megacorporations nicely to build things we need didn't work."

"I understand, Mister President. Don't worry, I'll do what it takes." SecTreas paused. "Sir, I know this is a bad time to bring this up, and I know it's not my area, but-"

He sighed. Even within the White House, news travelled fast. "The Ark of Truth."

"Yes, sir."

Hayes sighed. "You're not even supposed to know about that."

"I know, sir. I overheard SecDef and General Hammond talking about it."

"I assume you know what it is, then?"

"A superweapon that corrupts minds to your cause," SecTreas replied carefully. He chuckled. "Not the way they put it, of course."

"That's about the size of it," Hayes replied, fumbling for a cigarette.

"Sir, can we really use something like that?"

"What are you saying?"

"I think that some may find the device... morally questionable," he said slowly.

"Spit it out, James."

He sat down and sighed. "It's fundamentally a brainwashing device- correct me if I'm wrong. Corrupts people into believing a certain truth programmed into the device- I don't know how it works or how widespread that effect is. It's the purest form of the suppression of freedom of thought. It would be unconstitutional, against what this country stands for, what Earth stands for. Christ, Henry, we'd be almost as bad as the Ori or the Goa'uld, except we wouldn't have to put in any fucking effort!"

"Calm down, James," the President cautioned. He stubbed out his cigarette. "I don't like it either. But at this point, we're running out of options. You've seen the reports."

"Yes, sir, I have." He paused. "Look, say it's the best option, or we have no choice, or at least we think we're backing into a corner. Even if you ignore the moral question, how in the hell do you explain this to the general populace?"

"We had no choice. It was that or extinction," Hayes replied flatly. "It wouldn't be the first godawful thing I've done as President, might not be the last either. There's no way I'm going to be here when this is over, and I'm not sure I _want_ to."

"You only did what you did because you had to," James reassured him.

"Try explaining that to the world."

Quietly, James asked, "Do you think the Stargate Council will go for it?"

"I don't know, James, I don't know," the President replied, lighting up another cigarette.

* * *

**Stargate Alliance headquarters**

A young Lieutenant said urgently into Hammond's office, "Sir, we've detected a vessel approaching at high speed. It appears to be-"

Suddenly, a third lifeform appeared in the room in a brilliant flash of light. "-Asgard."

General Hammond dismissed the Lieutenant. "I don't think it's a problem, Lieutenant."

He turned to the familiar grey-skinned alien. "Thor. What can I do for you?"

Thor blinked. "It is not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you."

Hammond nodded, sitting down in his chair and motioning Thor to another. "Can I get you something?"

"Your species' refreshment is not compatible with my biology, though I do appreciate the gesture," Thor replied, remaining standing.

They got down to business. "I'm assuming this has something to do with the war against the Ori. You are aware of the Ark of Truth and its implications?"

"I am. The Asgard High Council is split on whether it would be morally acceptable to use the device should its discovery even be possible. However, even with your support and the upgrades to your ships, it may be the only way of achieving victory."

"Upgrades?"

"Allow me to explain," Thor explained. "The only weapons proven to be effective against Ori battleships so far are the Wraith plasma pulse weapons and our own plasma beams. Using knowledge extracted from the Ancient database in addition to battlefield sensor readings, we have been able to devise a new weapon specifically targeted to defeat Ori shielding. In form, it is a 'big honking space gun', as O'Neill would put it."

"And you want to put these on our ships?"

"Yes. We have fitted our own fleet with the weapons, but we have taken heavy losses and cannot afford to lose more. I do not wish to devalue your race, but it is the position of the Asgard High Council that we should provide tools to our most trusted allies rather than engage the Ori ourselves."

"I thought you didn't like giving out technology?" Hammond asked.

"We do not, in general. The events of the past several years have caused us to reexamine our ways of thinking. Still, it was an unexpected decision."

"How long is this going to take? Are we going to be missing our fleet for a month?"

"The modifications will be done ship by ship, and they will take only hours each," Thor assured him.

General Hammond clasped his hands on this desk. "What's the catch?"

* * *

**March 6, 2006  
Stargate Alliance headquarters**

"Frankly, President Hayes, I don't see much of a choice here," the British PM stated. "If these Asgard weapons work even half as well as they expect them to, then we'd be fools not to take the offer."

"No!" the Chinese representative objected. "We must defend Earth only. If we attempt to attack the Ori we will be destroyed."

"We're not committing all our forces," the French representative told him. "If we use good strategy- if we leave most of our ships at Earth then we will be stronger with the upgrade than all ships without."

He muttered something in French. The Canadian PM replied, "Yeah, pretty much."

"We have been on the offensive far too long," the Russian representative roared. "The Ori will not expect us to attack. We shall finally have them on the run."

The vote began and ended quickly. President Hayes glanced at the results before clearing his throat."It's decided, then. We're taking the fight to the Ori. It's been too goddamn long. Let's end this war."

* * *

**Ori battleship _Radiant Dawn_**

"There is no sign of the Sangraal, Orici," the Prior told her. "Our warriors have searched for days. The heathen were thorough in their eradication."

Aurelia nodded grimly. "And of the Crusade?"

"There has been more resistance than expected," the Prior replied in his usual monotone. "Smaller worlds submit easily, but larger worlds continue to fight our warriors and refuse to convert."

"What of the worlds that used atomic weapons?"

"The cleansing continues, Orici. They shall be burnt to ash."

"Good."

"Orici, there is another matter that may concern you."

She suppressed the urge to sigh. "What would that be? Are the machines in Pegasus engaging our fleets again?"

"No, Orici," the Prior said. "In our home galaxy, rumour has begun to spread. That the power of the Ori is not absolute, that the rule of the Ori can be opposed and the Book of Origin argued-"

She held up a gloved hand. "So, don't let it spread. I'm sure the Doci has everything under control. It's none of my concern."

"Yes, Orici." He bowed and took his leave.

* * *

**April 1, 2006  
M2N-571  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"You're infinitely more qualified to make this speech than I am, Liz," Major General Jack O'Neill said to the woman next to him.

Brigadier General Elizabeth Weir marvelled at how the man could complement her, make a stab at her, make it funny and do all that under the threat of galactic annihilation when they were about to undertake possibly the riskiest military undertaking in the history of mankind.

Ahead of the _Dreadnought_ was the Pegasus Supergate, still connected to a proxy gate in the Milky Way. That would change shortly- and if they screwed up, they would lose the war. Wreckage- Wraith, Ori, Tau'ri, Traveller all intermixed- floated lazily around the Supergate. It was a stark reminder of the last battle and its dire consequences.

Behind the _Dreadnought_ was the might of the allied fleets. Along with the Big D was the assault carrier _Normandy_, three Daedalus class cruisers, three Prometheus class frigates, the _Unity_ and the newly constructed _Hood_. Accompanying them were eight Wraith cruisers and a dozen Traveler generational ships, an Aschen Warpstar and several Ha'tak from various factions. A lone upgraded Asgard O'Neill floated among the formation.

She activated the comm system. "This is Brigadier General Elizabeth Weir aboard the Allied Earth starship _Dreadnought_.

"Our mission is simple. We are to deploy the Sangraal and annihilate the Ori, then secure the Ark of Truth and use it to disarm the Ori armies. Yet it is far more complex than that. We have no idea what we're going up against, other than that they're a lot stronger than we are. This is the home of the Ori- home to their population centres, their shipyards, their fleets and armies. We're fighting an uphill battle on their home ground.

"We may know a lot more than we did last time we stood together here, but that doesn't make this an automatic win by any stretch of the imagination. We're war-weary veterans going up against fresh troops, for better or for worse. We've got to do this fast and we've got to do it right, and if we fuck up we won't get another chance. We need to give this our all and then some.

"If the last time we stood here was the pivotal moment that determined the beginning of the war, this is the pivotal moment that determines the end. This is where we secure our future or where we lose. We fight for our freedom, for our very survival. We fight for ourselves, our families, our children and their children. There's no going back- we will win this battle and the war or we will lose this battle and the war. It may sound grim, but right now this is the best chance we've got.

"Today marks a new beginning. We're turning the tables on the Ori. We will defeat them once and for all or we will die trying. I wish you all luck in the coming battle. Thank you."

She turned to Colonel Carter, seated at a station to the left and below the raised flag command area. "Colonel, dial the gate."


	13. An End, Once and For All (Part 1)

One more real episode, then an epilogue. For better or for worse, we're almost through with SGD. I didn't really have time to proofread this- and that's basically the problem with SGD Season 3 in a nutshell. Due to other circumstances and simple laziness, chapters came late, short, and unpolished. I'm sorry, and it's as disappointing for me as it is for you.

**SGD 3x13 An End, Once and For All (Part 1)**

**April 1, 2006  
M2N-571  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"Wormhole established," Carter said quietly from her station. The Supergate sat majestically ahead of the fleet, it's perimeter glowing electric blue and surrounding what appeared to be an impossibly large, perfectly circular iridescent puddle of water. "We are connected to the Ori galaxy."

"Merlin, are you sure this is going to work?" General O'Neill confirmed for the last time.

The Ancient nodded. "One can never be certain, but disregarding any catastrophe, it should destroy the Ori within seconds of reaching their home galaxy."

"Good," O'Neill replied. He turned to Colonel Caldwell, commander of the _Dreadnought_. "You may deploy when ready."

"With pleasure, sir," Caldwell acknowledged. "Tactical, deploy the special payload."

"Yes, sir." The weapons officer tapped a few buttons on her interface, locking the Supergate in the targeting system and firing a single missile. It exploded from a box launcher on the foredeck of the battleship, streaking toward the Supergate and leaving a trail of plasma exhaust in its wake. In under a minute, it had closed the distance and disappeared through the wormhole.

"Receiving telemetry," the officer added after what seemed like an enormously long wait. In fact, it had only been a few minutes. "Payload is through and appears to have deployed successfully. Four Ori battleships, eight frigates appear to be arrayed in front of the gate- we just lost telemetry, sir."

"Well, that went about as well as we expected," O'Neill remarked. He keyed the communications system. "Allied fleet, this is General O'Neill. The device has been deployed successfully and we are clear to advance. Stick to the plan, people. We stick around and fight, we're fucking dead."

**Ori Home Galaxy  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"All ahead flank, open fire with all railgun batteries, load nuclear volleys into heavy launchers and prepare to fire," Caldwell ordered as they emerged through the Supergate. "Do not engage with the beam weapons, we don't want them to know we have them yet."

As it rematerialized on the other side of the event horizon, the fleet opened fire, giving the Ori a good pounding but careful to save ammunition for later. A blanket of railgun slugs, energy pulse weapons, and conventional and nuclear missiles enveloped the Ori fleet, the strong shields of the battleships glowing orange with the strain.

The _Dreadnought_ shuddered as her own armament was added to the mix, its four remaining main turrets and single spinal accelerator firing massive slugs at extreme velocity toward the enemy. They would have little effect on the massive battleships, mushrooming against their shields.

"Switch fire to the frigates," Caldwell ordered. "If we're gonna expend ordinance we might as well thin them out a little."

"Yes, sir!" The allied fleet was now beside the Ori fleet, in almost a broadside configuration. The Ori had the advantage, though, in that they could turn toward their opponents when the allied fleet had to continue accelerating. The main gun of the _Dreadnought_ was useless- it could not be brought to bear. But the turrets quickly traversed and elevated, locking on to an unfortunate Ori frigate. Shields already weakened by the initial barrage, they collapsed when the third slug impacted, and the remaining three tore through the ship like it was made of paper.

The Ori did not sit idle, however. The _Dreadnought_'s shields flared as a massively powerful Ori energy beam slammed into them. Its energy leaked through, slagging metres of armour plating. A bridge officer informed them of the damage. "Shields down to sixty percent, minor hull damage in forward sections!"

"Any time, Steven," General O'Neill prodded.

"Clear in thirty seconds, sir," the pilot informed them. The fleet continued to take the Ori pounding, with one Ha'tak gutted entirely by the powerful beams. The rest quickly jumped to hyperspace, and the _Dreadnought_ soon followed.

**Earth  
Planetary Defence Command Centre**

"What's the situation?" General Hammond asked immediately upon stepping into the Planetary Defence Command Centre. The PDCC was the latest and greatest in command and control centres, completed only within the past year. A large room filled with various control stations, plastered with LCD monitors, and dominated by a central holographic display, the PDCC proper was surrounded by a bunker complex capable of sustaining itself and the people within for months. The complex was built directly below the Stargate Alliance headquarters, deep underground and shielded for protection. Access was provided by several secure elevators and an emergency staircase, and underground cables snaked through the city to connect to remote communications systems. In the event of an attack on Earth, defences would be coordinated from this location.

"Three more battleships have dropped out of hyperspace, along with five frigates," an AESF Major informed him, following the General toward the holographic display. "That brings the total to five battleships, eleven frigates."

He nodded in response. "Bring up the tactical map."

On his command, the holographic display came to life, displaying a map of the Solar System, with Earth, their fleet, and the enemy highlighted and labelled. The Major pointed toward the enemy fleet. "As you can see, sir, the Ori ships are currently holding position at the edge of the Solar System, just past the Kuiper Belt. Sir-"

"The President and the Stargate Council already know," Hammond assured the Major. "Have they made any aggressive actions."

"No, sir. They're just sitting there. It's like they're waiting for something."

General Hammond nodded. "They know it's going to be far from a cakewalk. I think the Ori are afraid. That means we're doing something right."

**Ori Home Galaxy  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"The plan is simple," General O'Neill explained to the six dozen or so people in front of him, earning a quiet chuckle. "Well, simple in theory."

He motioned to the group in the front row. "SG-1, along with ATL-1, Luthan the Ancient and Valkyrie Gairwyn, will pursue the Ark of Truth. We know roughly its location, Ortus Mallum on Celestis."

"Birthplace of evil," Daniel quietly translated.

"Right, that," the General acknowledged. "Now we're going by original Ancient accounts and a few passages in the Book of Origin here. We don't know exactly what we're going to find, or what this place will look like. Personally, my bet's on the Pacific Northwest, except with a few ruins to explore."

He paused, allowing another bout of subdued laughter to spread throughout the group. "We're going to remain in Celestis orbit as long as we can, we're going to blockade the fucking planet and if necessary bomb the living crap out of them. Still, there's no way we can take on the entire Ori fleet. You need to find that Ark as quickly as possible. Got it?"

There was a murmur of approval. "Okay, the rest of you. We know there's an anti-Ori underground active in this galaxy. We're hoping to give them a little help. Your goal is to supply this resistance movement with weapons and knowledge to defeat or subvert Ori troops. It's not going to be easy. We have no idea what you're going into. We don't know how big this movement is, if it's viable, or how long you'll be staying.

"Each team will be paired up with one or two Tok'ra operatives. You will be travelling to Ori population centres- try to find larger ones- aboard goa'uld cargo ships, provided by the Tok'ra and modified by the Asgard. Your mission is, broadly, to turn the populace against the Ori. You have a full set of standing orders, but I'm telling you right now, they're pretty loose."

"I must stress upon you how important your mission is, and also how dangerous," General Weir added, stepping into the room. "What we're about to do could turn the tide of this war. We're hoping we can find the Ark of Truth and figure out how to use it but if we can't, our only hope is to subvert the people of this galaxy and turn them against the Ori.

"You'll be operating without support, deep behind enemy lines. We may not be able to extract you, not for a while or not ever. This entire excursion may be a one-way trip, but your mission even more so. If anyone wants to back out, we won't hold it against you."

There was no response. They all knew what they were going into already. "Good luck."

**April 2, 2006  
Ubis Irda**

Quietly, six hooded figures made their way through the streets of Ubis Irda. It was a medieval walled city, measuring roughly four square kilometres in size. Approximately a hundred thousand people lived in tightly packed houses and rudimentary apartments. They were connected by a maze of streets, most of them narrow and muddy, with only the town square and a few main streets paved with cobblestone. The centre of the city was dominated by a massive square used for Prostration, accompanied by a giant stone Ara.

"This is the largest city on the planet," Selmak explained to the rest of the group. "Our best chance of making contact the with resistance is here."

"I didn't know they had this kind of population density," Major Roberts muttered.

Lieutenant Brown was less impressed. "So this is what an Ori city looks like? Man, I think I'd rather go back to Detroit."

Selmak ignored the comment. "The Ori likely attempt to keep settlements small. It would be easier to control the population. But a concentration of population is necessary and inevitable."

"So, what's the best way to contact this resistance?" Roberts asked.

"Our ship was modified with Asgard sensors in addition to a faster hyperdrive." It was Jacob Carter speaking this time. "We know that the anti-Ori underground tries to collect artifacts to disprove the Book of Origin. We know a lot of them are Ancient technology. So we scan for Ancient technology, find it, and find the resistance."

"We know where they are?"

"We know where they might be," he replied, turning abruptly down another one of the narrow, muddy streets. "This way."

They headed down the street, passing all manner of city-dwellers going about their business, before entering a dingy looking tavern. The interior was dimly lit with candles, smelled of alcohol, and was loud with drunken chatter.

"I take it we're not going to just ask for the underground?" Roberts asked quietly as they sat down at a corner table.

"Not quite, but pretty damn close," Jacob replied. "If it doesn't work, we change into new robes, swap our fake faces, and try again somewhere else. But I'm pretty sure we won't have to."

"What makes you say that?" Master Sergeant Lewis asked.

"There's a pretty strong signature here, and-" he pointed to the bartender- "I'm picking up energy readings coming right off him. He's probably got a communication stone or some kind of instrument."

"Maybe he doesn't know what it is?"

"That's not the biggest reason. Listen to the conversation for a minute."

They did, struggling to make out individual voices among the din. Finally, Roberts whispered, "They're unhappy. They're not talking about the Ori, but I can read between the lines."

"Exactly. In this day and age, rumours travel fast, even between galaxies. They know the Ori can be resisted. They know we're putting up one hell of a fight. It's not enough to turn everyone against them, but there's going to be discontent and it's going to concentrate in places like this."

He raised his voice. "Excuse me? Bartender?"

The bartender, a rotund man with a short greying beard, ambled over to their table. "Yes?"

"Time is short, so I'll get right to the point. My name is Jacob Carter. We're visitors from another galaxy- you might call it Avalon-"

His eyes lit up, a mixture of shock and awe. "The land of the crusade?"

"Yes. Do you have somewhere private to talk?"

He looked around, eyes sweeping the room before he nodding his head. "In the back."

He turned to a woman in a yellow dress. "Avria, take over."

"Certainly," she replied, batting her eyelashes.

The bartender sighed before leading them into the back of the tavern. There was a small table set inside a kitchen, beside a large hearth with a cooking pot above it. He gestured for them to sit, though there were only four chairs and three of them had to stand.

"My name is Halvar," he introduced. "Truly, you are from the land of the crusade?"

"We're the real deal," Roberts replied, nodding.

"Can you prove it?" Halvar's tone was as curious as it was suspicious.

With a few taps on her wrist, the Major deactivated the holographic face and hands projected over her suit. She removed her cloak, revealing the heavy armour beneath. The others followed suit, deactivating their holographics, although most left their clothing on.

"Truly you are a warrior of the unbelievers- pardon my use of the term. And a woman as well."

She folded her arms. "You have a problem with that?"

"No, I simply did not believe the rumours were true." He paused. "I take it you have sought me out as a member of the anti-Ori underground?"

"We did," Jacob replied.

"Might I ask how you did so?"

"We know you look for old artifacts that predate your supposed creation by the Ori," he replied. "Many of those artifacts are technological in nature. We scanned for them and followed the energy signature."

"And yet the Ori clearly cannot do the same, or we would not be here," Halvar mused.

"I thought you thought the Ori were supposed to be omnipotent?" Melissa interjected.

Halvar shook his head. "No. In fact, that is precisely what we are trying to disprove."

Jacob nodded. "Look, we're kind of new in this galaxy, and I'd like to get a feel for where we're at. More specifically, I'm curious as to the general attitude toward the Ori."

Halvar sighed, standing up and walking back into the front of the tavern. He returned with several mugs of frothy liquid, placing them in front of his guests. Jacob carefully sampled it. His symbiote would protect him from any ill effects... except for the crude taste.

The local man sipped his own ale before slowly replying. "We, as a people, thought for as long as I could remember that the Ori were perfect, omnipotent. That their Priors were all-knowing, their warriors all-powerful. When the crusade began, we believed it would end in victory in a matter of weeks."

He paused to take another sip. "But we had no word for over a month. It was strange. There were various explanations, but for the most part we simply went about our daily lives. We dare not question what was happening."

"Well, some of you did."

"My friend, I questioned the Ori long before the crusade began," Halvar replied. He took another sip. "But then some of our warriors returned. They emerged not victorious as we had hoped, but battered, tired, even beaten. They told of powerful warriors wearing strange armour, who were unharmed by their weapons and responded with deadly thunder and fire. They told of flying machines that could match the creations of the Ori and armoured carts with no horses that thundered across the ground with impunity. There were even stories of bombs that could level entire cities."

He took another sip- more of a gulp this time- of ale. "Surely you do not possess such might?"

"We do, for better or for worse," Melissa replied.

"Supposedly the power of the gods, yet wielded by mortals," Halvar mused. "In any case, our faith began to shake. The Priors tried to reassure us, but the seeds were planted. Some of us decided we feared the unbelievers- pardon my terminology- more than the Ori. Few of us, of course, most still fear and revere the Ori. Some of them tried to take action. They were swiftly struck down."

He put down the mug. "We are not at the point of revolution, not yet. But we have been offered perspective. Many are confused, many angry, many unsure. The Ori may not be the omnipotent beings we thought they were. If there is another power that can oppose them, are they also gods? Should we worship them instead?"

"If you start praying to me, that would be incredibly creepy," Melissa noted. "I'd be flattered, but I'd be really fucking creeped out too."

Halvar took another swig of the bitter ale before leaning forward. "Fortunately, I do not think that is likely. However, your arrival could change everything. You may not know this, but there is a rumour spreading. That the fires of Celestis have gone out."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Jacob asked.

"The fires _are_ the Ori. Even if you interpret that less literally, it means that their power has been broken. The people have their doubts, but they are not yet convinced. It would take a dramatic event for a dramatic change in opinion."

"I think we can arrange that," Melissa replied. "Do you know when a Prior is coming to town?"

"Tonight. Why do you ask?"

Jacob echoed his question. "You have a plan, Major?"

"I do."

"What kind of plan would that be?"

**Celestis**

In a forest clearing, ten figures appeared in a bluish flash of light. The forest was very similar to those on Earth, with evergreen-like trees and small shrubs closer to the ground. It was damp but not soaking wet, perhaps a temperate rainforest but certainly not a tropical one. The section they appeared in was up a mountain, on a craggy plateau.

"So, any idea where to start looking?" Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard immediately asked.

Gaiwyn gestured toward a chunk of stone with a gloved hand. "There."

"How the hell did she-"

"Ask Thor," Daniel Jackson told him.

"We'll take Luthan and head down into the ruins," Carter said. "Sheppard, your team will stay up here with Gairwyn to cover our six. The Ori are probably already on to us, so be ready for anything."

"Oh, that is so not-"

"Rodney," Sheppared warned before turning to Carter. "Roger that. We'll be here if you need us."

"Good." Gairwyn had already pushed the stone slab aside to reveal a tunnel, and SG-1 headed down into the ancient ruins.

**Ubis Irda**

"If I have to deal with this bullshit much longer, I'm going to go fucking nuts," Lieutenant Martha Brown hissed, her voice coming clearly through the comm system.

"Almost ready," Major Roberts replied. "Another sentence or two."

"Enemies of the Ori will show no mercy in their attempt to lead us astray from the true path, likewise we must attack with all the Strength which we have been given," the Prior preached. "The power and greatness of the Ori cannot be-"

"Now!" All within a few seconds, several things happened at once.

Near the edge of the square, Jacob Carter/Selmak activated an anti-Prior device hidden beneath his robes.

Underground members, lead by Halvar, stood up from Prostration and began urging the crowd away from the Prior and his guards.

SG-114 stood up, shed their disguises, and raised their weapons. They opened fire.

The Prior and his guards were taken completely by surprise. The guards were quickly shredded by the staccato gunfire that echoed around the square. The Prior found himself without any powers or his personal shield.

Major Roberts quickly jumped up onto the raised platform. She tore the staff from the hands of the Prior and tossed it to the ground, her mechanically enhanced strength beating the genetically enhanced strength of the Prior. Voice amplified by her suit's speakers, she shouted, "My name is Melissa Roberts. I am from the galaxy you call the Crusade Land- a warrior of the unbelievers. The Ori are not omnipotent, their armies not always victorious, their Priors not infalliable. We have fought them and we have won."

She turned to the Prior. "Kneel."

"The power of the Ori cannot be denied."

"So be it." Melissa kicked the Prior's legs out from under him, forcing him to a kneeling position and keeping him there with her foot. In one smooth motion, she drew her M1911 MEU(SOC) pistol from its drop-leg holster, jammed it against the back of the Prior's head, and cocked the hammer.

"This is the prophet of your gods. All-knowing, invincible, infalliable." She pulled the trigger.

**Celestis Orbit  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"Sir, three Ori battleships and five frigates just dropped out of hyperspace!"

"They know we're here, and they don't like it one bit," Weir remarked. "Bring the fleet to battle stations. You are cleared to use beam weapons."

"Thank you, ma'am," Caldwell acknowledged. "Bring all weapon systems online. As soon as those ships are within range, light 'em up."

The _Dreadnought_ shuddered as its main mass driver fired, sending a slug of tungsten flying toward the enemy fleet. A barrage of missiles erupted from deck-mounted box launchers, joining a swarm fired by the other ships. It took minutes to reach the enemy fleet.

The Ori ships quickly closed the distance, the missiles and slugs impacting their shields to little effect. A second wave had just as much success. When they had closed to optimal range, the Ori returned fire.

"All ahead flank! Evasive manoeuvres!" Caldwell shouted. The _Dreadnought_ slid hard to port, but the massively powerful beam still grazed the flight pod, severely straining their shields. Beside them, a Wraith cruiser exploded.

"We are in effective range of beam weapons, sir!" the executive officer informed as a second set of energy beams lanced toward the allied fleet.

"Open fire! Hit them with everything we've got!"

The ventral beam turrets quickly snapped into position, tracking one of the Ori battleships. After charging for a few seconds, they fired, bright blue lances of plasma streaking toward the leviathan. The impact had a visible effect on its shields. A quick attitude adjustment exposed the dorsal turrets, which were already charged and ready. The next two shots punched straight through the weakened shields of the Ori battleship, tearing through the hull and its delicate internal components. Its lights flickered and died before secondary explosions of reactors, engines, and munitions tore the once-proud starship apart.

At the same time, the rest of the fleet opened fire, newly-installed Asgard beam weapons tearing through the other two Ori battleships in much the same fashion. A combination of beam weapon, energy weapon, railgun and missile fire quickly brought down the weaker frigates. Within minutes of coming into beam weapon range, the Ori fleet was obliterated.

"All targets destroyed, sir," the sensor officer quietly informed.

"Stay vigilant," Weir cautioned. "They're not going to let us sit in orbit of their capital. That wasn't the Ori fleet. It was an advance force. Hopefully we've given them pause, but they're not going to sit idle."

**Celestis**

"I still think blowing out that obstruction was a bad idea," Daniel complained as they headed deeper into the dark ruins, illuminated only by their flashlights.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Vala retorted.

"Yes, but there was a very real possibility it would collapse these tunnels, and it may have compromised their stability-"

"Which is why we're going to get the Ark of Truth and get out," Vala replied. "Would you rather have gone at it with a pickaxe?"

"No! But I mean, if Gairwyn came with us she could just dematerialize it. And I know we have some drilling equipment aboard the _Dreadnought_-"

"All of which would take more time which we," Vala paused oddly, "don't have."

They emerged into a chamber filled with rubble and debris, along with the dust they had created by detonating the obstruction. There was no other entrance- it was the end of the tunnel.

"Well, I hope it's in here somewhere, because I have a very bad feeling this is all we're going to find," Vala commented.

Teal'c carefully scanned the ruins, picking out a discoloured spot with his trained eyes. He examined it closer. It appeared to be an ornate tube, covered in dust. "Here."

Daniel rushed toward the object, kneeling down to inspect it. He removed a chunk of loose debris, revealing that the tube wasn't a tube but the corner of some kind of chest or crate. "This is it."

"Are you sure?" Vala asked.

Luthan scanned it with a strange device. "I cannot speak for Daniel Jackson. But I believe this is what you are looking for."

"Definitely," Daniel agreed, amazed. "I found it-"

"SG-1, you might wanna make it quick," Sheppard's voice crackled. There was gunfire and shouting in the background. "We've got company."


	14. An End, Once and For All (Part 2)

I wanted to do a good job on this, but, alas, it was not to be. I don't think it's horrible, but it definitely could have been better. There's still one chapter to go, an epilogue, so if you want any last minute shout outs, now's your chance.

* * *

**SGD 3x14 An End, Once and For All (Part 2)  
**

**Celestis**

Sheppard's team took cover as staff blasts came pouring out from the treeline. He glanced at his motion tracker, which showed a veritable swarm of Ori warriors rapidly approaching his position. Worse still, there were Ori fighters inbound.

"Roger that, we're on our way out!" Carter replied over the radio.

He raised his Mk 48 and opened fire on the advancing warriors, shredding the first rank as well as a significant amount of tree. "_Dreadnought_, this is Hunter Two-One, we've got a swarm of Ori warriors and at least two fighters inbound, repeat, a shitload of warriors and at least two fighters, do you copy?"

"This is _Dreadnought_ actual, we copy. We still cannot get a lock on SG-1, over. You'll have to hold until we can retrieve them." There was a slight pause. "We are sending additional personnel to your position. Orbital bombardment is on standby, over."

In a flash of light, an additional eight people appeared, immediately taking cover behind whatever they could find. An armoured man slid into the dirt beside Sheppard.

"Major Lorne!" he greeted loudly, tossing a grenade into the forest. "Nice of you to join us!"

"Just wish it was under better circumstances, sir!" Lorne shouted back. "Cadman! Kaz! Take out those fighters!"

"Yes, sir!" The two women shouldered long, heavy launchers, pointing them up into the air. In seconds, sensors on the control unit of the launcher were linked with the guidance system of the Star Streak missile inside and the computer systems of their armour. One after the other, they locked on and squeezed the trigger, sending small, deceptively powerful missiles toward their targets.

Lieutenant Cadman quickly dropped into a depression behind a tree trunk to reload. Sergeant Kazlauskienė was not as fast, and took a staff blast to her shields before dropping safely behind cover.

"SG-1, where the hell are you?" Sheppard shouted.

"We're moving as fast as we can, there was a collapse and we had to find another way around!" Carter's voice said in a frenzied reply.

"Copy that. I'm calling in artillery, everyone get down." Using the control cluster on his rifle, Sheppard marked the edge of the forest as a target and sent a request for a line barrage, danger extremely close. They were less than a hundred metres away, and if it weren't for their armour the concussion of even the lightest bombardment would kill them.

Seconds later, the sky lit up and the forest exploded, events close enough together to be perceived as one. It wiped out the forwardmost wave of Ori warriors and seemed to give the rest pause, the advance nearly halted and incoming fire reduced dramatically.

Another pair of missiles streaked into the sky. This time, one of the fighters was close enough for them to watch explode and crash to the ground.

"We're out of the tunnel system!" Carter's voice stated. "Dreadnought, can you get a lock on us now?"

"That's affirm, SG-1. Standby for extraction."

**Ubis Irda**

Major Melissa Roberts holstered her pistol. "The Ori are not gods. For thousands of years they have oppressed you and forced you into their servitude. You can end this. Now."

The crowd stared, quiet. Finally, one older man asked, "You say that everything we have believe in is false. What would you have us do?"

"Across the galaxy, worlds are rebelling," she replied, hoping that the other teams were successful and her words weren't lies. "If you simply stop worshipping the Ori, that will take away some of their power. Refuse to fight for them. With any luck at all, the armies will defect, but if that doesn't happen, we can give you weapons to defend yourselves.

"I'm not going to lie to you. It's not going to be easy. Some of you won't see the end of this. But don't do this for yourselves. Do it for your children. Your children's children. Your people."

"You ask a lot of us!" a woman shouted from the back of the crowd.

"We would be giving up everything! Why should we follow you!"

"Ask yourself this," Halvar shouted, striding out from the crowd. "The Ori have always insisted that they were all-powerful, all-knowing! How is it, then, that the unbelievers were not found and that the Crusade did not begin until now? How is it, then, that rebels such as myself were not exposed before we could act? How is it, then, that the armies of the Ori are suffering defeat at the hands of these people?"

"Perhaps it is a test of our devotion?"

"The Ori have had since time began to test our devotion, and nothing has changed until now," Halvar shot back. "My friends, we have been mislead! We have been forced into servitude for the gain of greedy, power-hungry-"

Suddenly, a horn blew, three times in quick succession. A young man carrying what looked like a less ornate staff weapon- presumably the town watch- shouted at them. "The armies of the Ori march upon the city! They will be here before the day is out!"

Melissa nodded before addressing the crowd again. "Who's ready to fight?"

**April 3, 2006  
Earth  
Planetary Defence Command Centre**

"What's the situation, Lieutenant?" General Hammond asked, sipping on his coffee as calmly as possible. Years of experience had trained him to appear far more in control than he actually was, and he radiated an air of confidence rather than the uncertainty he actually felt."

"They Ori are transmitting a message to us, sir," the Lieutenant told him. She fiddled with her console. "And they seem to know exactly where to hit us. Standard AM modulation at eight hundred, nine hundred, and one thousand kilohertz, FM at eighty-eight megahertz and ninety-seven megahertz. Extremely high power."

"Put it on."

"_-follow the path of enlightenment, the path that is just and true. Do not allow the wickedness that surrounds you to lead you away into darkness. There is only one path. __Your defenses are no match for the might of the Ori, which shall rain down apocalypse upon the un-_"

"I've heard enough," Hammond said quietly, taking his hand off the switch. "I need to inform the President. Let me know if anything changes."

**White House**

"-willing to sit down and talk, to open up peaceful discussion. We all seek enlightenment, in one form or another. But it is important to understand that the path is different for each one of us. Forcing others to see the world through your own narrow view is-"

"-spreading lies such as these is hateful to God! We shall rise up as Allah wills and cast out these heathen in our own-"

"-in our constitution. Even if the people were willing, which they clearly are not, we would not be in our power to force a certain religion on our-"

"-of false gods cannot be allowed to continue! We will not give in to legends dreamed up by an alien race for the sole purpose of enslaving-"

"-can't speak for the Ori. It's not my place. But I ain't gonna turn my back on God because some crazy alien bastard says so. I will take up arms and fight and if I need to-"

"Look like there was never anything to worry about," Hayes concluded, turning off the television set. "The people have made their choice. Nobody's going to accept Origin, no matter what the consequences. I think that's a victory in and of itself."

"Agreed, Mister President," General Hammond replied. "Still, I would advise caution. There will be radical groups who are willing to side with the Ori. They may prove problematic, though I would not expect them to be more than a thorn in our collective side."

"And what about the ships?"

Hammond shook his head. "Still holding position in the outer Solar System."

"If they decide to press the attack, what are our chances?" the President asked.

"Not good, Mister President. We have the supercarrier _Enterprise_, which can deploy a lot of fighters but doesn't do us a lot of good in a straight up fight. Add to that the _Libert__é_ and _Pyotr Veliky_; those are battlecruisers, but only the _Pyotr Veliky_ has been upgraded with the Asgard weapons. We also have four Daedalus and three Prometheus class ships, half and half upgraded and non-upgraded. That's our fleet-"

"What about the assault carriers?"

Another shake of the head. "About as useful in a straight-up battle as a knife in a gun fight. The best plan would be to load them with ordinance and try to ram the Ori battleships."

"You're serious about that, aren't you?"

"We might be able to take out an Ori battleship that way. It'll buy us time."

"What about the Antarctic defence platform? Abydos station? The DTCS network?"

"The Ancient weapons platform is our one unknown," Hammond admitted. "It may indeed be effective against the Ori ships, or it may be useless. However, we believe that the Ori could engage from outside of its maximum range. Of course, we don't know that for sure either- we couldn't exactly test how far out that defence platform can reach.

"Abydos Station is somewhere between the _Dreadnought_ and Unity battlecruisers in power. However, it is practically immobile, so only if the Ori choose to engage in its firing arc would it prove useful. They may bypass it entirely. The DTCS network... to be frank, sir, it would be completely useless. It was designed to intercept and destroy goa'uld vessels, and we don't think it would have even done a good job against them."

"So, you give us-"

"One chance in ten, and I'm being generous. Realistic would be one in a hundred, maybe even a thousand."

President Hayes stood up. "I'm not about to give up yet, George. The people of Earth aren't going to give up. If this is our last stand, we're going to make it one hell of a last stand."

**Celestis Orbit  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"So, we have it, and we know what it does, but how do we use it?"

"I believe the legend is literal in this case," Daniel explained. "Those who look into the device while it is open and activated will immediately realize the truth about the Ori and renounce their faith."

"That would match what little historical records we have of the device," Luthan confirmed. "Moros?"

"I have not used that name in centuries, but I suppose you are insistent..." The old Ancient nodded sagely. "Yes, that matches what I was able to determine."

"So you have to be right beside it for it to work?" O'Neill asked, sounding more than a little disappointed.

"Jack, what did you expect?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping it would be a push the button and the whole galaxy drops Origin, like a Dakara superweapon sort of thing!" O'Neill shouted. "Because if we need to show every goddamn follower this Ark, then it doesn't do us a lot of good! We might as well just carpet bomb them with propaganda leaflets."

"Jack!"

"I hope you understand the position we're in, Daniel!" O'Neill shot back, lowering his voice slightly. "We're currently on the Ori's home turf. Half the strength of Earth's fleet is here, not defending Earth. The Ori are still strong in our home galaxy, and they hate us. Every minute we spend here is a minute closer to annihilation. And if Earth goes, the rest of the galaxy goes."

"I understand the stakes, Jack, but this is what we have to work with. No, it's not what we hoped for, but it could still be useful."

"There may be an option that has the desired effect," Merlin added. "The Priors of the Ori are connected through their staffs, with a mental link. Though I cannot be certain, I believe the effects of the Ark of Truth will propagate through this link. Of course, the range would be limited- I do not believe it would effect the Milky Way Priors from this galaxy."

"With the Priors gone, they won't be able to operate their ships anymore," Daniel added. "I imagine the Priors suddenly spouting anti-Ori rhetoric would seriously demoralize their warriors, maybe even enough to end the crusade."

O'Neill clapped his hands together. "Great. So we need a Prior."

"In that case, our best bet might be to go to the top," Daniel replied. Getting several confused looks, he pressed on. "The Doci, the head of the Priors, is known to reside in the city of Celestis. We've never seen him out and about in the galaxy, so it's logical to assume he'd still be there."

"And if not?"

"This is like their Vatican, their Forbidden City, their Dakara so to speak. More likely than not there'll be other Priors there."

"Wait, wait, wait," Sheppard interrupted. "If we can get to the Doci, why didn't we save the trouble and just execute him in front of his people?"

Daniel shook his head. "I don't know if it would do any good. The people might not believe it, and even if they do, I don't think it would cast the whole galaxy into rebellion. The Ori would probably cover it up, bring out a new Doci and get rid of anyone who saw the old one die."

"This won't be an easy mission," O'Neill cautioned. "You're heading right into their capital. If they're as paranoid as we are, it'll be full of warriors, Priors and other nasty things. And I don't know how much longer we can hold orbit. You might have to complete your mission before we can come back and pull you out."

"This is the worst plan ever," Vala muttered. Daniel glared at her.

"Sir, we could leave a cloaked ship in orbit," Carter suggested. "It could act as a communications relay as well as a way out should things get too rough."

The General nodded. "Good idea. We still have a few special cargo ships left, so that's no problem. And now for the million dollar question- who's going?"

"I think smaller teams would be better for this op, sir," Carter replied. "Send us in with Sheppard's team as backup."

"Hey! Why are we always backup!" McKay complained.

"Rodney!"

"Time is of the essence," O'Neill concluded. "You'll deploy as soon as we get everything sorted out. In the meantime, how are the other teams doing?"

"Some of them have been more successful than others," General Weir replied. "Four teams report successful rebellion. Five more report probable rebellion, three possible rebellion, seven no change, one got into a firefight, two pulled out, and we haven't heard from-"

"Sir, picking up an Ori _fleet_ closing fast!"

O'Neill turned to SG-1. "Then we'd better make this quick."

**Celestis**

Carter examined the vehicle. It was slightly smaller than a Humvee, and far more curvaceous. There was space for a driver and three passengers, with a position near the back with a machine gun. The driver and passengers had doors with windows, and the gunner had a hatch and could duck inside the vehicle. It was powered by a naquadah generator, using electric drive, and armoured with trinium alloy plates. Additionally, the bottom half was sealed and it had propellers to swim.

"Why didn't we have these earlier?" Sheppard asked, echoing her thoughts.

"Let's run through this one more time," Carter said, climbing into the passenger seat of the vehicle. "We push through to the temple at the centre of the city together. Then we go in and capture the Doci- Sheppard, your team will hold the building. We expose the Doci to the Ark, and hopefully that'll be it."

"And if it isn't?" Vala asked.

"We shall cross that bridge when we come to it," Teal'c said from behind the vehicle's machine gun.

"I still think we should have brought more people," Rodney McKay complained as the vehicles began to roll.

"We're already stretched thin," Sheppard replied, easing his vehicle into the shallow water. "We'd have to send in a lot more to take the city- more than what we have here and we're just giving them more targets. Remember, the Ori have air supremacy."

"Yeah, but it's not like they're going to bomb their own city!"

"Oh, I wouldn't put it past them," he replied, gunning the accelerator to catch up with Carter's vehicle.

There were almost through the gates when energy blasts began streaking toward them. Immediately, Teal'c and Sora opened up with their M2 machine guns, sending explosive incendiary rounds into the Ori positions.

Carter winced as a staff blast slammed into the windshield, rendering part of it almost completely opaque. She jerked on the wheel, pulling the vehicle into a hard turn and stomped on the accelerator. They crashed through the gate before it could fully close and entered the holy city?

"Where's the Doci?" Sheppard shouted over the comm.

"In the centre of the city. Follow my lead!" Carter replied tersely, accelerating down the main road as energy blasts peppered the ground around them.

"You know, this is about the worst plan ever!" Rodney McKay shouted as Sheppard ran over an Ori warrior, blood smearing the windshield. "We could have just-"

"Shut it, McKay!" Sheppard replied, hammering on the brakes as the vehicle ahead of him ground to a halt. "Carter, what's the holdup?"

She was already dismounting. "This is it. Hold this position, we're going in!"

Sheppard crouched next to the vehicle, taking cover behind the open door. "Do it fast!"

**Ubis Irda**

"...those who are prideful and refuse to bow down shall be laid low and made unto dust."

Halvar peered over the wall at the Prior preaching in front of the massed Ori army. Awkwardly cradling a Kalashnikov rifle, he turned to Major Roberts. "Are you certain this will work?"

"No," she replied honestly, dialling in the scope of her AWM. "But it's worth a shot, if you'll excuse the pun."

"The defenders report they are ready... as ready as they can be," a lithe man wearing the uniform of a city guard told them.

"Thank you," Roberts replied, nodding. "Let's get this show on the road."

She took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger, sending a .338 Lapua Magnum round downrange. At the same time, Selmak activated the anti-Prior device. The Prior immediately found himself unprotected, and before he could react the bullet had blown his brain out the back of his skull.

The reaction from the Ori army was confused. Some of the warriors dropped their weapons, while others haphazardly opened fire. Commanders shouted unsure orders, trying to get their units back under control. One of them sank to the ground, and another began to run before being cut down by his own soldiers.

"Open fire! Open fire!" Halvar shouted. Quickly growing in intensity, a volley of bullets, energy blasts, arrows and stones rained down from the city walls onto the Ori army. Hundreds were cut down immediately, and again the reaction was highly disorganized. Some ran for cover, some stoically stood their ground, and some ran, that group split into those running toward the city and those running away.

Roberts yanked back on the bolt of her rifle, slamming another round home. She quickly took aim at one of the commanders- she thought he was a commander, anyway- and pulled the trigger. A split second later, his head exploded.

"Major Roberts, be advised, the Ori seem to have-"

Before he could finish the transmission, the wall beneath the Major exploded, her world bathed in a blinding blue glow. She found herself falling, and struggled to find something to hold onto before hitting the ground.

**Celestis**

"Where's the Doci?" Carter asked frantically, running through the corridors of the temple with her team right behind her.

"Keep going! The Fires should be, uh, up the stairs, to the right!" Daniel shouted in reply.

"This is the worst plan ever!" Vala shouted, standing up and firing continuously into the Ori defenders at the end of the corridor. She ignored the energy blasts that hammered her shields, focusing on blowing the warriors into smithereens with her shotgun. "I mean, what if he's not even here?"

"We've come this far, it's too late to back out!" Carter shouted back. She bashed an Ori warrior with her rifle and opened fire at point blank, splattering blood all over her suit. Taking the stairs two at a time, she added, "Just keep moving!"

"SG-1, I advise you move faster," Sheppard shouted over the comm. "We can't hold this position much longer!"

"We're moving as fast as we can!" Carter tossed a fragmentation grenade down the next corridor, waiting for the explosion before moving in. She winced as an energy blast collapsed her shields and another one singed her armour. The rest of SG-1 quickly followed, cutting down the group of warriors.

"There!" Daniel shouted, pointing to an open archway on their left. They stormed in to find the Doci alone, his back to them.

"Pity not the blind man, for he is hindered not by the visions of this world, but rather pity yourselves, for he will see the light before you do. Truth is elusive to those who refuse to see it with both eyes wide."

He slowly turned, refusing to bash an eyelash at the loss of his powers and the four guns pointed at him. "Evil overcomes good, darkness overcomes light, despair overcomes hope, lies overcome truth. The path has been-"

"We don't have time for this," Vala said to the others.

"Agreed," replied Carter. She kicked the Doci's legs out, sending him unwillingly to the ground. "Grab him."

Each of the women grabbed hold of one of the Doci's arms. Carter nodded at Vala, and together they jumped out the window.

"Thrusters... now!" Carter ordered, triggering her jump jets. Vala did the same a second later, the delay causing them to land in a twisted heap.

The Doci attempted to crawl away, but was stopped by Vala's armoured boot. "Oh, no you don't. Daniel?"

"Right here," Daniel replied, unpacking the Ark from the back of their vehicle. Energy blasts peppered the ground around them, a few of the blasts slamming into their vehicles or fizzling against their shields.

"Fucking finally!" Sheppard shouted. "With all due respect, could you please get on with it?"

Vala twisted the Doci to face the Ark, then turned away, keeping her foot firmly planted on him. Hastily, Daniel dialled the activation code into the Ark and flung it open. A blinding white light enveloped the Doci before quickly fading.

The Doci retrieved his dropped staff and stood up, taking a few wary steps forward. "Mia clementia denar esto."

**Ubis Irda**

Major Roberts gingerly picked herself up off the pile of rubble that was once part of the city walls. Her suit had absorbed the majority of the impact. Others were not so lucky. Beside her was the twisted corpse of Halvar, beside several other defenders. Some were recognizable, some horribly twisted and maimed, some pounded into a pulp.

"Artillery! They have fucking artillery!" someone shouted over the comms.

"Yeah, I got that!" she replied loudly. "Anyone got a bead on that artillery?"

"They seems to have some kind of hover vehicle," A pause. "Damn it, it's shielded!"

She made her decision instantly. "All defenders, retreat into the city! The walls have been breached and the rest aren't going to last much longer!"

As if to emphasize her point, another blast blew out part of the wall maybe a hundred metres away. The shockwave knocked her to the ground.

She stood up, searching for her weapon and finding it gone. She drew her pistol as defenders began to gather around her, ready to counter an Ori assault through the gap in the city walls.

The assault, however, never came. A minute later- though it seemed like an eternity- she realized there was a voice booming in the distance. She struggled to make out the words.

"-cast down your weapons! This bloodshed can continue no longer."

**Celestis**

At the command of the Priors, the Ori warriors slowly lowered their weapons. They looked conflicted, unsure. Were they not supposed to destroy the unbelievers? The Priors hid their feelings behind impassive masks, but they were just as confused. However, they had unbreakable directives implanted in their mind.

"It worked! I can't believe it, we've won!"

"Of course it worked," Vala huffed, picking herself up. "I am _not_ doing that again."

"What, jumping out of a building?" Carter asked, shrugging. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Can we get out of here, now?" Sheppard asked, stepping out of cover. His armour was charred in places, but he wore a grin on his face.

"We have to contact our support ship and wait for extraction." She eyed their two vehicles, which had been punched full of jagged, melted holes. "Looks like those aren't going anywhere."

"I don't believe staying here is a good idea," Sora interjected.

"The Priors have absolute control over the armies, and they're more or less on our side now," Carter assured her. "We're as safe here as we are anywhere in the galaxy."

The Ori soldiers were all staring at them, unsure of what to think. Sheppard shrugged. "Yeah, but it's _creepy_."

**Celestis Orbit  
AES _Dreadnought_**

"General, I'd advise we don't stick around much longer," Caldwell said, glancing at the tactical display.

General O'Neill nodded. "Understood, Colonel. Prepare to jump to hyperspace."

"Sir, the Ori fleet just stopped!"

"What do you mean stopped, Lieutenant?" Caldwell snapped.

"They're dropping velocity like... the acceleration must be incredible! They've gone from half _c_ to virtually stopped in seconds!"

"Why are they stopping?"

"Sir, receiving a transmission from the surface!" the comm officer interrupted. "It's from SG-1. They report successful deployment of the device and request extraction."

General O'Neill smiled, and everyone in the CIC relaxed slightly. "Looks like it worked."

* * *

**April 4, 2006  
Planetary Defence Command Centre**

"Where are they now, Lieutenant?" General Hammond asked quietly.

"Still holding position inside the Kuiper Belt, sir."

"We have the Ark now. I think they know that, or at least they know if something's up," Hammond mused, mostly to himself. "Now comes the hard part- how do we use it?"

"Sir, permission to speak freely?"

"Granted, Lieutenant."

"Should we really be using the Ark of Truth, sir? It's essentially a brainwashing device,and it goes against-"

The General held up his hand, stopping her. "We're past that point, Lieutenant. Ethical or not, the Ark of Truth is the one thing we have over the Ori. We don't have a choice in the matter. Philosophers, politicians, lawyers, they've all looked at it. The decision's been made by people far more influential than you or me."

"Yes, sir," she replied glumly, more than slightly embarassed. "What do you believe, sir?"

"I believe in doing what's necessary to protect Earth, and praying to God I can live with it after the fact."

**SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

Slowly, gracefully, the Prior emerged from the event horizon, continuing down the ramp as the gate shut down. He paid no heed to the four heavily armed soldiers escorting him, nor to the gateroom guards. Indeed, his face was a mask that simply could not be read.

"I can't believe this actually worked," General O'Neill commented from the control room.

"They want to bring others into their fold, even if it is to trick them," Daniel explained, shrugging. "It's their modus operandi."

"But they know we won't give in. We already told them."

Daniel shrugged. "The Priors are confused. Remember, their link to their home galaxy was just cut off. That kind of situation is probably unprecedented for them. They're afraid of us, maybe not quaking in their boots but they know we're going to make them pay. I think at this point what's left of the Ori wants a peaceful solution as much as we do."

Seeing Jack's questioning look, he shrugged again. "Of course, I could be wrong."

He shook his head. "Doesn't really matter, does it? Let's get this show on the road."

Keying the intercom, he ordered, "Activate the device."

In front of and below them, the Ark of Truth was brought out. The Prior's face contorted slightly before it was opened and he was blasted with brilliant light. It took only seconds to dissipate, before the Prior recited in an apologetic tone, "Mia clementia denar esto."

**Planetary Defence Command Centre**

Hammond watched as the red triangles representing Ori ships began to move, away from Earth and toward the edge of the Solar System. Whatever they had done, it worked.

"Sir, the Ori ships are moving outwards, into the Kuiper Belt!" the Lieutenant informed him, though he already knew.

"Are they leaving?"

"Yes, Chief, they're leaving."

"And we're just going to let them go, sir?"

"With any luck at all, they'll go back to their home galaxy, and they'll never bother us again," Hammond replied. "And if they do, we'll be ready for them."

"Sir, picking up an additional contact, bigger than a fighter but it looks like it came from one of the Ori- it's gone, sir."

"What was that?"

"Most likely a stealthed scout ship," Hammond explained. "The Ori may be brainwashed but they aren't stupid. There's a lot of people in this galaxy that wants them gone."

"They're jumping to hyperspace, sir!" the Lieutenant announced. Under a minute later: "All contacts lost, sir."

General Hammond sat down, releasing a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "It's over."

"That's it? It's over?" someone asked quietly. "What happens now?"

"I wish I could answer that, son. I wish I could."


	15. A New Era

There were no last-minute requests to work in, but I may have thrown in a few tidbits myself. The speeches may not be so great- I'm not that good at writing speeches, but I tried. No major plot developments, but there are some sequel hooks, and hopefully a satisfying conclusion to SGD. It's not a final final ending, but I hope it will give enough closure to this arc at least.

I know I discontinued this practice somewhere in the middle of Season One, but it's back one last time... music suggestions! If you want to end on a happy note, _To Galaxy_ from Halo 4. If you're feeling a bit emotional, the Black Ops 2 theme might be a better choice. And if you're really disappointed, Mass Effect 3's _An End, Once and For All_.

* * *

**SGD 3x15 A New Era**

**April 5, 2007  
Earth  
Washington, D.C.  
Washington Convention Centre**

President Henry Hayes straightened his tie one last time before stepping out from the side of the stage and striding confidently out to the podium.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending today's ceremony. I feel it is my duty to remind you all that this is a solemn occasion... yet it is also a happy one. It is a time of great celebration and yet it is a time of great mourning.

"One year ago, on this day, the end of the Ori War was declared. An Ancient weapon had been used to pacify Ori forces here, in Pegasus, and in their home galaxy. The Ori armies and fleets fled, leaving a ruined galaxy in their wake. We can still only guess at the death and destruction left behind. Nations crushed, cities levelled, entire planets left uninhabitable. Our best estimates put the death toll in the billions.

"Earth got off easy. Our planet was never attacked, though we stood on the brink of annihilation for months. Our war dead number in the thousands, several orders of magnitude lower than any of our allies. Their sacrifice must be honoured, but it must be honoured alongside the millions killed in the war. Soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen stood side-by-side with their counterparts from worlds lightyears away to stand against a common foe.

"I must impress upon you the importance of this unity. Earth did not stand alone- does not stand alone. The nations of Hebridan, Langara, Tegalus, and countless others stood by us. The Free Jaffa, Travelers, the Asurans, the Genii, more, all joined the cause and contributed what they could. Even the Goa'uld and the Wraith were able to put aside their hatred and focus on the real threat.

"Finally we realized that despite all that is different about us, we have more in common that we think. We all believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, even if the wording is a bit different. We all believe in freedom. We all believe that no one has the right to force upon us their beliefs, ideals, and way of life. We all believe in self-determination and independence. Though we may seem as if we stand alone that is, in fact, why we stand together.

"War is a terrible thing, but we must never forget. We must never forget the sacrifices our brave men and women made in the service of their country, their world, in the name of liberty and freedom. We must never forget that there is always an enemy out there, that we must be ever vigilant. We must never forget that we stand united, even when we feel like we are standing alone. We must never forget the ideals and beliefs that bring us into conflict yet see us through. We must never forget who we are. Thank you."

**Pegasus Galaxy  
Atlantis**

After the ceremony in the gateroom, the crowds had dispersed, moving to a large conference hall specifically set up for the occasion.

For the most part, representatives from each planet stayed together. Clearly separated was the Genii delegation, the Traveler group, the Ancients, the humans of Earth, and a few knots of people from the various small communities spread around the galaxy. Notably absent were the Wraith and the Asurans. The former were not invited and the latter did not respond to the invitation.

Some of the men and women split off to join their counterparts from other worlds. Scientists joined scientists, engineers joined engineers, anthropologists joined anthropologists, and in many cases soldiers joined soldiers. All were careful to avoid discussing anything too sensitive.

One of those groups was of the leaders of each faction. General Weir, Larrin, Ladon Radim, and Helia stood in a rough semicircle, drinks in hand. Their conversation quickly turned to the proverbial elephant in the room: the Wraith.

"The Wraith have been unusually calm since the Ori War," Helia broached. Though she continued to carry around the glass lest she be seen as rude, she refused to drink any more of the Earth beverage. "They have retreated to a few sectors of the galaxy, ignoring the rest."

"They're building up," Larrin snapped. "They're building up for war and we're not doing a thing about it. They're culling humans, building ships, researching new technologies. Sooner or later this will come to a head."

"Whichever the case, the galaxy is relatively stable right now," Weir said diplomatically. "That means we're not under immediate threat here on Atlantis. As I understand it, both your homeworld and your fleet are reasonably safe as well."

"Still, thousands are culled every day," Larrin countered, shaking her head. "Humans are being killed and the Wraith are strengthening themselves."

"It is the official policy of my government that the Wraith are not currently a threat," Weir replied carefully, her voice measured. "Until such time as they become a threat, we will ignore them. Should they become a threat, we will respond in kind."

"And what do you think?" Ladon asked bluntly.

"My position, off the record, is that the Wraith are as powerful an enemy now as they were an ally in the Ori War," she replied, more casually this time. "Earth may be a galaxy away, but Atlantis is right in the line of fire. We're close, dangerously close. I understand the position of my government- we don't want to kick the- sorry, anger a very dangerous enemy. At the same time, we know who's leading the Wraith, and we know sooner or later he'll attack anyway."

Helia shook her head. "The Wraith are damaged and scattered. They would not attack in such a desperate situation."

"Don't tell me you're going to make the same mistake again," Ladon muttered.

In an attempt to defuse the potential confrontation, Weir quickly changed topics. "Larrin, how are the parts we're supplying."

"Excellent. Much better than the junk we've had to work with."

"And our sharing of nuclear technology?" she asked, turning to Ladon.

"We don't really need the bombs anymore, but we've managed to significantly improve the safety and reliability of our power reactors."

"The Wraith are still out there. We may regard this as a time of peace, but if war isn't already here, it's only minutes away."

* * *

**Wraith Hive-Ship**

A lone figure stood on the bridge of the hive-ship, staring ponderously out the viewport at the planet below.

He was satisfied for the time being. He dominated the Pegasus galaxy. He controlled dozens of worlds, and projected his terrifying power over hundreds more. Under his command were almost all the Wraith hives that he hadn't wiped out. His fleets and armies had taken a large hit during the Ori war, but they were recovering. The Pegasus Galaxy was in a metastable state, an uneasy sort of peace.

Ba'al knew he wouldn't be satisfied forever. Eventually, his urges would take over, and he would once again seek to expand his empire.

**Asuras**

"Do you truly believe we are safe? That the humans will not attempt to wipe us out, as the Lanteans did before them?"

For a moment, short to an organic and long to a synthetic, Oberoth considered the question. The humans had been their nominal allies in the war, and against the rogue faction as well. Their opinions on the Asurans, and presumably on other synthetic life, varied from 'basically human' to 'basically dirt'. It was impossible to determine where the humans stood, especially since they had not been in contact for over a year.

His inability to answer that question with any degree of certainty was worrying, especially to a synthetic.

**Undesignated Planet**

A small grey figure stood behind a control panel, deftly moving translucent stones to and fro on its surface. His motions were practised- almost the same ones he had been performing for thousands of years.

Soon, they would have to move. The planet they resided on was becoming more and more toxic and corrosive, a result of sweeping tectonic and atmospheric changes they had failed to predict. Knowing they were not the last of their kind gave them hope, but not as much as it should have. What they had done, though necessary, would be considered inexcusably criminal by the other Asgard. They had briefly participated in the Ori war, and had hoped to present themselves in a favourable manner, but the opportunity never came.

Eventually, they would have to contact their Ida cousins. But he suspected it would result in war, not peace. The last thing they wanted, something they could not afford.

**Milky Way Galaxy  
Lucia**

Netan kept his face impassive as he pondered their situation.

On one hand, things were good. The Ori were gone, and along with them their stranglehold on their galaxy. Left behind were hundreds of ruined worlds ripe for the exploiting. With their (relatively) advanced technology and (mostly) steady supply of food, they could easily get people on their side. There were lots of jobs, plenty of customers, and vast resources.

On the other hand, with the Ori gone, the Tau'ri once again held the balance of power. Their position was clear- drugs, slavery, and the other miscellaneous illicit activity the Lucian Alliance participated in was a no-go. Along with their allies, they had the power to wipe out the Lucian Alliance if they wanted to. Fortunately for him, they hadn't tried. Yet.

He would continue to build his empire in the background, as he had before. Direct action would only result in his downfall. And when the time came, he would be ready.

**Earth  
London, England**

The Ori were gone. Their once formidable armies were robbed of their zealous fervor. Worlds lost, fleets scattered. According to one report she had read, they were forming their own government, and a _democratic_ one at that. The top candidate for President was a veteran of the war, a commander named Tomin. A lowly commander, a simple human, leading an empire of billions! An empire now a shadow of its former self.

She had come to accept that.

Earth had surprised her, and after spending some time on the rich world, she understood why they insisted on fighting. She did not agree, of course, but she understood. The Ori kept their worlds crude, uneducated, and poor. So did the Goa'uld, and because of that they flocked to their side. Earth, on the other hand, had a chance to develop and flourish, as did a few other worlds. Those worlds were the ones that resisted the most, even accounting for their massive populations. The reasoning was simple- they had a lot to lose.

Her gods were gone, her faith meaningless. In their place was a thirst for power... and vengeance.

**New York**

What was once known as the Trust was now fractured in two.

One faction was supposedly less corrupt. At least, they embodied what the Trust was originally about- protecting Earth at all costs. Sure, their methods were still just as harsh, and they were still lying cheating bastards mostly in it for personal gain, but at least in theory they were doing the right thing. Supposedly.

Her faction was the corrupt one, a label she detested but had learned to live with. It was all about her personal power and personal gain. Oh, they didn't know it, of course, but she had the entire half of the organization by the throats. She was getting herself in position to rule Earth- or at least a decent-sized chunk of it.

In the meantime, she would bask in the luxury of this world, living comfortably as one of the one percent.

* * *

**Washington, D.C.  
White House**

"One year of victory, George," President Henry Hayes mused, pouring two large glasses of bourbon. "One year of peace, prosperity, and not worrying about when the world is about to end."

He handed one of the glasses to his guest, General Hammond, before taking a sip out of his own. "I can't believe it's already been a year. I'd say it's been a pretty damn good year."

He sat down on one of the exquisite leather sofas. "I thought being President during a time of _peace_ was hard before. Now it's practically stress free."

"I take it you're not campaigning again, Mister President."

He shook his head. "Hell no. I've had enough stress for a lifetime. I'm still not sure what to think- if it was a good term or a bad term, if I did a good job or not, but I _know_ I'm done. Done with being President, maybe done with politics entirely."

"You still have a year and a half to go, sir," Hammond pointed out. "A lot can change in a year and a half."

"Don't I know it," the President muttered, taking another sip. "If there's another threat, I'll turn and face it, but truth be told, I don't know if I can go through that again."

"When the survival of your planet is at stake," the General replied, choosing his words carefully, "you can do things you never thought you would. For better or for worse. Still, I'm hoping for much the same as you are."

"Well, the secret of the Stargate is out, the Ori are gone, the Wraith are staying in their own space, the Milky Way is mostly stable, and all the galaxy-ending superweapons have been destroyed. This should be a relaxing term from now on." Absentmindedly, he reached for a cigarette, only to find the pack was not there. He had quit smoking several months ago, but the habit still persisted. "Strengthening alliances, rebuilding the galaxy, building up our strength. Ushering in a new golden age."

He paused, raising his glass. "A golden age. I can drink to that."

"So can I, Mister President," Hammond agreed, clinking glasses. "A new golden age, however long that may last."

"Well, if it isn't going to last," Hayes said, downing his bourbon, "then I think we ought to enjoy it while we can."

**SFB Cheyenne Mountain**

The inner ring of the stargate was already turning as the three armoured figures entered the control room. They were lightly equipped for a recon mission, carrying only a battle rifle and a sidearm each, rather than the heavy loadouts of the Ori war. Grey-on-black adhesive-backed patches identified them as members of SG-1.

"Chevron one encoded!" Walter's disembodied voice called from the control room.

Daniel looked around, between his teammates and around the room. They were missing one. "Where's Vala?"

"Chevron two encoded!"

A fourth person hurried into the room, coming to a stop beside her teammates in front of the embarkation ramp. "Sorry about that!"

"Chevron three encoded!"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What took you so long?

"Chevron four encoded!"

She shrugged passively, checking her rifle. "Where are we going?"

"Chevron five encoded!"

Daniel told her, "P3K-546. It seems to be safe, and there's a working DHD, but that's all we know about it."

"Chevron six encoded!"

Teal'c added, "Indeed. There are still many planets in our gate system that remain unexplored."

"Chevron seven... locked!"

A second after the seventh chevron clamped down on the familiar "At" symbol, the stargate came to life. What appeared as a puddle of water quickly formed, before shooting forward in the characteristic unstable vortex, coloquially known as the 'kawhoosh' due to its sound. As soon as it formed, it collapsed, leaving the flat, shimmering 'puddle' of an active wormhole.

Boldly, they stepped through the gate.

* * *

**Final Author's Notes**

First off, I know Season Three was a disappointment. It was a disappointment for a lot of you, and it was a disappointment for me as well. Season Three was supposed to fix Season Two's flaws, go big and epic, and at the same time focused and personal as well. It was ambitious. It was supposed to be. I hit the ground running, but quickly lost momentum. Other things in real life kept me away from SGD, and I started to lose enthusiasm. I'm tired of SGD, and maybe writing in general. Still, I wanted to make this work, and it's a great personal disappointment that things went the way they did. Making the decision to cut the story short was, no joke, one of the hardest decisions of my life.

I would like to thank all my readers for following this story and sticking by through the early days of quick, rushed chapters, through the questionable plots of late Season One, the drawn-out multi-chapter arcs of Season 2.0 to 2.3, the buildup of late Season 2 and climax of the season transition (which I consider to be the best part of SGD), to the late, rushed, hacked-together mess of the majority of S3, to the slight recovery around what was supposed to be the midpoint, to the severely cut-down ending, to this extreme run-on sentence of a thank you message in the final author's note. If you've left reviews, thank you, if not, please consider at least leaving a final note.

So, what's next? I don't think SGD Director's Cut is going anywhere, unfortunately. There will not be a Season 4 of SGD- the ending of Season 3 actually incorporates about half of what was planned for the fourth season, albeit in an extremely compressed form. Invasion is my playground of sorts- there will continue to be sporadic updates, but don't expect anything dramatic. It's posted on Spacebattles as The Undiscovered Galaxy (my username there is XCVG), but I won't post it here until I have enough amassed to form a sort of collection. Among Fighting Men I want to continue, but I don't know if I'll have time, and it's been so long since I last updated I don't know if anyone even remembers it. Same goes for A Balanced Power and A Changing Reality. Everything initially published on April 1st is a joke that I probably won't continue unless there's huge demand for it.

I have a few things tentatively planned, though. I'll probably write some oneshots, Stargate, Mass Effect, and a few others. Maybe even some set in the SGD universe. I'm working on an original science fiction verse (internally codenamed _Halogen_) and an original fantasy adventure (_Anthracite_).

This is the end of SGD, but I'll be back!


End file.
